


Satellites

by CyberPrime



Category: Slipknot (Band), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: IT MAY JUMP BUT IM TRYING, M/M, YA THIS IS A LARGLY INCOMPLETE FIC THAT WAS MADE IN LITTLE BURTSTS.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:07:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 26,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27024778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberPrime/pseuds/CyberPrime
Summary: An Autobot with energy powers offers his hand at adding to stage effects with Slipknot. Desperate to be at the top of the touring experience, Roadrunner accepts. Little does the band know of the adventures to come.
Relationships: Original Male Characters/Mick Thompson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS AN INCOMPLETE FIC. CHAPTERS MAY END AT ANYTIME

Mick didnt understand why his eyes kept sliding over to repeatedly rake over the 'human mode' form of the Autobot.

The kid wasn't ugly but it wasn't like Mick was gay or anything either. Mick shook his head and pushed off the couch, determined to work himself out over some new material Jim had shown him briefly on the bus.

But as he closed the door, he didn't miss the quick flash of blue that shone out into the hall either.

****

His heart was beating fast because of the adrenaline, Mick reasoned. He was sweating because of the pyro. And nothing else. 

But as Kai rolled his hips to Devil In I, Mick had to turn and stalk across the stage. A lot of fans had become accustomed to Sids brand of dancing but after seeing Kai's provocative moves, Maggots went feral. Corey and the other guys seemed to love it and roared even louder. 

Mick had more respect for cheerleaders if that's the reactions fans had to them. Careful gaze adjustments for the rest of the show kept his body temperature somewhat manageable but walking with something very hard against SOMETHING ALSO VERY HARD for the period of two hours had bigger consequences. Mick threw his Jackson at the guitar tech a bit too hard if the man's wide-eyed stare didn't give it away. Mick stalked to the dressing room, ignoring the stage crew with towels and cool bottles of water. He wanted a shower. Preferably ice cold.

****

Mick was regretting buying the chocolate bar.

He had over heard Kai excitedly point out the candy to Craig while they were in the random convenience store. Sid was throwing a munchie tantrum which was setting Jim off so Corey convinced the driver to pull over. Kai made a beeline for snacks, Craig directly behind him. 

Kai had taken a look at the assorted mass of junk food in his arms, mentally calculated the additional price of the candy bar and his face fell. Mick had watched Kai shake his head at Craig who was reaching for the chocolate bar and softly murmur. "Put it back Killz, I don't have enough money."

It took everything in Mick to not immediately storm over and plant the twenty dollar bill in his pocket directly in Kai's hand. Luckily, the Autobot and sampler made a beeline to the cash register and saved Mick from doing or saying anything stupid. 

But as the two quickly paid and left the tiny store, Mick found himself walking over to the candy isle. The bar Kai liked was some over-sugared conglomeration of toffee and chocolate. Mick's teeth cringed as if they could feel the cavities, there was no way Mick would normally buy this.

But Kai liked it right? He seemed upset when he couldn't right? So maybe if Mick bought it, Kai might-

Mick snatched the candy bar and a bag of random chips he'd never eat to hide it before he lost his nerve.

Mick grabbed the candy bar and threw the bag in his bunk before heading to the game room like normal. He'd give the candy to Kai and play a few rounds of some shooter. Maybe it would clear the fuzzy feeling in his chest. But right as he stepped into the room he saw Kai sitting on the couch, halfway through slaughtering a horde of zombies. 

He perked up, pausing the game with one hand, waving with the other. "Hey Mick! Wanna play a few rounds with me?" His smile widened in expectant glee, causing Mick's cheeks to pinken slightly.

"N-no," he internally swore at the stutter. He cleared his throat. "I just want to give you this." Mick tossed the candy bar over. Kai caught it with one hand before peering down at the label.

Mick had to stop and take a deep breath when he finally made it to his bunk. The memory of Kai's bright smile and slim arms around his neck made him feel tingly inside. He was a grown man. He did not tingle. 

****

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHO YOU ARE!! KEEP DANCING LIKE A DAMN STRIPPER AND SEE IF DON'T BOOT YOU OFF THIS TOUR!"

Shawn had his ass off the park bench and over to wrench the bus doors open before any of the other guys reacted to the shout.

Marcel, their co-manager, had been up Kai's ass about anything he could think of all tour. After a few scalding insults and some creative comebacks to Marcel's bullshit, Kai had the one human who would probably take a crowbar to his alt mode.

Kai had joked that he got a free "crazy girlfriend experience".

Shawn knew it was a bad idea when Marcel showed up at thier bus asking to talk privately to Kai. But Kai had been explaining to them that since most of his actions reflected back to the Autobots, he had to at least try being civil to the man. Following the sound of glass shattering, Shawn hurried up the stairs and to the living room where the two men suddenly turned to face him.

Kai had a rapidly bleeding gash on his left temple and glass shards in his hair. The stem of a champagne glass in Marcel's palm was tipped in glowing blue. Shawn immediately planted a fist into his jaw. Marcel hit the floor just as Chris, Mick and Paul burst into the room behind him.

Mick's eyes swiveled to Kai but he took a heavy step toward Marcel who was starting to yell obscenities. Kai picked up a couch pillow and flung it at Marcel's head. His head hit the wall behind him with a muffled 'thunk'.

"Oh shut the fuck up. I dance how I fucking want to and you cannot stop me." Kai grabbed a paper towel roll and walked over to the coat closet where a mirror was built into the door.

Marcel lurched to his feet, feeling his jaw where a bruise was forming. "Oh yeah? I'm going directly to Roadrunner and I'll get am indecency clause in your contract. Fuck you." He smiled, an action that made Kai's eyes shine brighter briefly before dimming down to brown. 

Chris shouted and reached for Marcel who was stopped by Paul. Shawn could get away with a punch, Chris couldn't. Mick had already taken the roll and was handing Kai new towels when one was soaked in blue. Kai was ignoring the steadily streaming wound, using the corner of a folded paper towel to carefully flick glass away from the wound.

He winced, "You do know that I basically have digital memory right? I just sent a clip of you saying that to John and some friends at Roadrunner. Fuck off," he pressed the towel harder, his hiss making Mick turn and glare at Marcel. "Have fun saving your job motherfucker."

Shawn honestly felt bad for the man. All of his underhanded ways had just come to light and he was guaranteed to be fired. Paul had the shit eating grin aimed directly at Marcel's ass as the miserable man hurried down the steps.

Paul was by Kai's side in a second, ducking to have himself eye level with the still streaming gash on Kai's temple. There were thick blue lines lining his jaw and down his neck, his collar was quickly becoming damp. Chris stepped out, calling back that he'd get a wet rag.

"Jesus, Paul stop worrying. You know head wounds; they bleed a lot. I'm fine." Kai's irises swiveled over to the bassist with a noticeable whir and Shawn saw Mick's entire stance change.

The massive guitarist was already looming next to Kai's right shoulder, a handful of loose paper towels ready the moment Kai needed them. But Shawn also saw the hungry gleam in his eye. Mick looked a thought away from reaching over and wiping at the Energon streams himself. But he seemed to swell, occupying Kai's entire right side in an intimidating stance. 

Paul raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Mick, you good? You look ready to wage war."

Mick seemed to take a breath and deflate, though that took nothing away from the cold aura around him.

Chris hurried over with a cold wet cloth and Kai accepted it eagerly, smiling, wincing and then smiling again. "Thanks. Fuck Marcel. He knows that I rocked it and is jealous that his flat ass can't do anything but be up mine."

Shawn snickered, "I got a good punch in so no one will want that ass for a while." he snarked.

Mick huffed, "Who even wants to." His gravelly voice had Chris ducking behind Paul. The percussionist knew potential death when he heard it. Kai suddenly glanced up and saw the wide berth from him and swiveled to look at Mick.

He glared, eye brow raised. "Hey, can you stop being Mr. Extreme Death over here? I'm fine and you're scaring the shit out of Chris."

Mick tilted his head down and stared at Kai. He seemed to be able to see through his shades-?! Red suddenly flushed through his face and neck, causing his to swiftly stomp out past Shawn and down the stairs.

Kai stared at Shawn who was busy rubbing the bridge of his nose. He didn't know either.

Shawn shook his head at Paul when a confused snickering Chris started to ask for an answer to Mick's strange behavior. Maybe if he acted like it was random, Corey wouldn't get some exaggerated story and come looking, drunken fists flying.

Though based on the irritated look on Kai's face, Shawn suspected that Kai would pin and interrogate the guitarist himself.


	2. Can' Digest That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai gets drunk, Mick picks him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Yes i wrote this is full seriousness. Fite me.

Kai howled in laughter as Sid was forced to drink the disgusting mixture of mayo, mustard and vodka. The DJs face was a hilarious expression of disgust.

"You're laughing very hard for someone who has to go next!" the DJ snarked.

Kai cursed, his head whirling as the alcohol he had consumed hit his systems hard. Damn Ratchet for letting him get drunk!  
"Very funny," he slurred, sticking a middle finger up at Chris who was wearing bright pink lipstick. "I can take whatever I get!"

Corey sniggered and rolled his eyes as Kai repetitive reset his optics. "If you say so, you're the only one whose in denial about being shit faced."

Kai took a deep breath and focused on the deck of cards on the table. He was so warm and his body felt so lose. His entire frame was covered in a pleasant tingling sensation, and his spark felt soft. Kai didn't know if that was even a thing that was possible, but who was he to complain?

Slowly Kai reached out and clumsily swiped the card of the top of the deck. With a intense focus, he read the dare in it.

"Give a lap dance to the person...across from you."

The laughter was long and boy was it loud when Kai looked up to see Craig's deeply blushing face looking at the floor between his feet. It took a moment for Kai's to process it before his face rapidly tried to match the shade of Craig's.

Chris reached over Corey to slap Kai on the back, nearly spilling his beer in the process. "Good luck Kai! The killer might set his sights on you!" He was shoved into the floor by Corey which sent another wave of laughter up.

Kai tilted his head to the side, eyeing the sampler up. "And if I don't?" He said.

Joey tossed a bottle of New Amsterdam at Kai. He fumbled, it slipping through his fingers before he caught it. "Then you have to drink this entire bottle with no chaser."

The groans were loud and over exaggerated, with Chris and Sid adding a few extra retching noises for effect. Kai hated the particular brand of vodka, and the grimace across his face nearly made Jim snort his jagermister up his nose.

Craig looked a little worse for wear but he still wasn't looking at Kai. The Autobot smirked, and tried to get to his feet. Too bad that on the moment of standing he abruptly tilted over, landing directly in Corey's lap. Shawn lunged to catch the bottle of vodka before it hit the ground.

"Get the fuck off me you crazy robo!"

"If I wasn't drunk off my shit I would!"

Kai scrambled to his feet, taking several deep breaths as he swayed back and forth. Chris places a steadying hand on his lower back, sending warm flushes of heat across his skin. After a moment, Kai looked down at his friends. They were all looking at him expectantly, evil grins bright. Joey had his phone out with his finger hovering over the record button. 

"Get to it," he said with a grin, "unless you want this cheap ass vodka."

A gurgle in Kai's stomach let him know that he really, really, did not want the vodka. "F-fine," he slurred, "but I want music to do it to. Y'know get inna mood. Gotta do a good job." He winked at Craig who was trying his best not to look anywhere at Kai as his face burned.

Jim grabbed his phone, which was connected to the Bluetooth speaker with a cackle. "I have just the song!" He yelled. "This is gonna be awesome! Jordison, are you ready?"

Kai was ready to protest before S&M blared through the speaker, sending a wave of heat directly to his face. Corey's laughter pounded at his ears. "What Kai?" he snickered, "Lost your inner whore after a few drinks?"

Kai's eyes twitched. His spark flared. His body temperature rose a few more degrees.

Oh his inner whore? Kai thought in a sudden moment of clarity. He'd show them all his inner fucking whore.

Three steps and Kai was over the table. A swipe of his hand and Craig's drink was on the seat next to him. Two pushes of his arms and he was straddling the sampler nicely, his crotch planted firmly against his.

Craig uttered a small sound, his hands automatically rising to grasp Kai's waist but then planting them in the seat beneath them. He didn't think Kai would actually do it! That that he was protesting. But as Kai pressed a boiling hot kiss to his throat and bore down with his hips, Craig brain abruptly thought that was simply enough input and immediately shut down.

****

Kai whimpered as the ray of sunlight directly hit his eyes. Silver stabs of pain hit his processor directly as his stomach roiled like a ship in a hurricane. He didn't recall getting to his feet, nor jumping over the mounds of fabric on the floor as he made a beeline to the bathroom. He barely made it, retching repeatedly as his entire body rebelled. 

"Kai, you alright?" Mick's voice called out, seeming to materialize at the bathroom door.

Kai groaned as he heaved again, warnings piling up on his HUD. Ugh, his filter had malfunctioned towards of the middle of the night and hadn't processed the alcohol properly. Now there was a sludge of ethanol products fragging up–

The train of thought was cut short as a sharp pain rent through Kai's body, causing him to curl against the toilet with a small whine. He was never drinking again! Who makes this shit?

"Kai?" Mick's voice had risen half a octive, his concern causing him to step into the bathroom. The Autobot looked like shit, caramel skin carrying a grey pallor, brown eyes glassy and scrunched in discomfort. The kid groaned, a shudder wracking his body before he turned his head to vomit again. In a moment of kindness Mick rubbed Kai's back, the soft hum rewarding him.

"Fuck, people d-do this? Everyday? Never again." Kai groaned, his head whirling from the backlash of energy. Cybertronians weren't designed to purge their tanks, it was only a literal last resort for their energy processing systems. It would make sense that his entire body felt like it would fall apart at the bolts.

Mick huffed a laugh, worry starting to hit him. Kai looked horrible, not moving from where he was slumped over the lip of he toilet. "Do you need anything?"

It took a moment for Kai's pain filled brain to take the words and make sense of them, his eyes slowly sliding over to the hulking guitarist. Could he-? Well, he could only ask.

"Could you carry me to my bunk? Please? I can't...I can't really move at the moment."

A beat of silence and words of apology were on his lips before Mick scooped him up, pressing the handle of the toilet to get rid of the sick. He had no idea of the waste was toxic or anything but at that point he didn't care. Kai murmered in his shirt, the warmth of his breath sending a jolt through his heart. Mick hoped Kai didn't hear the way his heartbeat


	3. Robot Shite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mick has to get used to things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHA SHORT CHAP. DONT KILL ME

Mick didn't understand the kid. He knew Reikai was a robot, and could turn into a bigger robot and a truck and do...robot shit. But the kid in himself was...strange. Growing up in Iowa, black people were...not common and black kids who were alternative were even rarer. And now Mick was getting a full dose of it everyday accompanied by a daily serving of a blazing grin and mischievous giggles.

Kai laugh was both the funniest and most horrible thing he had ever heard. The belly laughs were contagious, and could send many jokes to the stratosphere. But the high pitched hyena cackles were a joke in their own right and could make you lay gasping on the floor, tears running down your face as you heard Kai fight for air through his own laugh attack. That was the moment Mick first fell in love.

Kai never stopped moving. Figeting, crossing his legs, tapping his foot, wiggling his fingers, it was constant. It was infuriating for Mick at first. What was he, 13? Mick started to avoid the kid, when they had to sit together for long periods of time. Well, until Mick almost bumped into a white and red rescue hummer parked too close to the bus one morning. After a heart stopping transformation at close range, Mick was introduced to Ratchet, medic and Kai's creator. After barely wrapping his head around the realization that yes, Kai had to be built, Mick had to watch what looked like a stream of pixels form into a man, nod at him and walk right on the bus. 

'Robot shit', he chanted to himself. 'Its just robot shit.' The pixel man was roughly poking Kai in the shoulder, tte kid wincing and smacking the hand away. Mick had his third bomb in under 10 minuts as the pixel man pressed both hands to Kai's shoulder...and slid his arm out of the hoodie sleeve. Kai didnt react. Mick had to fight a sudden wave of nausea. As the now limp arm was held in pixel mans grasp while he still berated Kai for "not coming in for your check up when you are supposed to and making me do this!" After 5 minutes of settling his stomach, and fixing his face Mick stepped forward.


	4. realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title says

"Hey Mick. I have a kind of weird question."

Mick's eyes snapped over to where Kai was lounging on the back on the couch. Corey had comandered two spaces, resting his head on Paul's lap. Kai, not to be deterred, balanced himself on the back of the couch, earning loud laughter from the rest of the Nine as they too found seats. Ending up in a rough circle.

A few beers later and the gang was more or less ignoring the supposed-to-be-funny movie on the screen in lieu of 4 crossways conversations. Kai had decided to simply listen and laugh, energy levels still not fully up to par after the massive nanite infusions that Ratchet had given him a month ago.  
"What?"

Kai's face reddened, and he grinned. "Well, don't be mad but uh, do you not like me in my bipedal mode?"

All conversations stopped, eight pairs of eyes snapping to either Kai or Mick. Corey was the one who broached the silence. "Why would Mick think that?"

Kai squirmed, nearly falling off the couch if Paul hadn't grabbed his leg. A re-adjustment and Kai did an approximation of a shrug. "I mean, it doesn't bother me. A few soliders get a little antsy around me. He glanced at Mick. "Just, when I'm in my bipedal mode mode, you tend to...go away."

Kai's voice trailed off, eyes averted to the movie. Mick's eyes were wide, hand denting the can in his hand. "I-"

His voice cut off, the true reason of why he avoided Kai slapping him mentally. His mouth shut with an audible click. 

Kai raised an eyebrow, just as Sid piped up. "Mick doesn't like anything that can beat his ass like he can beat ours." 

The laughter was loud, though Kai noticed that Mick carefully didn't meet his eyes for the rest of the day.

⚫⚫

Mick didn't want to admit the true reason of why he avoided Kai in his bipedal mode. He honestly didn't want ANYONE to know the true reason why he avoided Kai in the robotic from. 

Mickael Gordon Thompson, guitarist of world famous metal band Slipknot, was irrevocably attracted to giant alien robots.

And not just any giant alien robot. Specifically a Triplechanger Specialty Autobot named Reikai Cyber Prime.

Mick placed his head down on the table with a thunk, a deep sigh forcing his way out of his body. 

"You good bro?"

Mick groaned as Paul chuckled, pulling up a chair to sit across from Mick. Mick shook his head, not wanting to look up. "No. I think Kai thinks I hate him."

Paul re-adjusted himself and clasped his hands together, his little sign that he was listening. "Okay, now why? Have you ever given him reason?"

Mick shoved his head up, choosing instead to stare at the ceiling of the bus. Did he really want to have this conversation? Paul was trustworthy, that wasn't the issue. But did he really want to pour his heart out and then be interrupted by one of the other less tactful bandmembers? He'd actually kill one of them of they opened one of their big mouths.

Paul seemed to read his mind, waving one hand. "Don't worry, the entire bus is empty. They all ran out to some group thing with Kai. Shawn's with them."

Mick sighed in relief, though his heart clenched tighter. Now he really didn't have a reason to bitch out. Fuckfuckfuckfuck. 

He slammed one hand on the table top, causing Paul to jump slightly. "Fine I'll do it."

Straightening, Mick locks eyes with Paul. It was now or never. "I have a crush on Kai."

He immediately regretted it, covering his face with his hair. Why did he say crush? Now he sounded like some stupid twelve year old who was too busy thinking with his dick. God fucking dammit.

"You do? That's great! Kai's pansexual if you didn't know, so you have a chance." Paul sounded completely oblivious to Mick's pain, but Mick was ready to throw everything to the wind with that new info. 

Swiping his hair out of his face, Mick paused at the knowing grin on Paul's face. "What?"

Paul snickered, rolling his eyes. "I don't know about the others, but I've known you had something for the kid for a while. Pretty obvious of someone pays atention to you."

Mick clenched his fists, feeling vunerable. What did Paul mean, kind of obvious? He had driven himself to what felt like insanity when keeping his urges under control. Kai was affectionate with all of them, making it harder.


	5. Save Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai shows his real self...a hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know damn well a generator isn't where it is in real shows...but plot.

*******************************************************************  
_“Cut me, show me, enter  
I am willing and able and never any danger to myself  
Knowledge of my pain, knowledge of my pain  
Or was my tolerance a phase? Empathy, out of my way!”_

____

Kai was in bipedal mode in the middle of a crowd and it was everything it took to make sure one of the fans didn’t crawl underneath his armor plates. Even though there was a steel barrier and security keeping the fans away, some always got through to try and climb the Autobot. Unfortunately, it was a show where Kai couldn't go on stage and also couldn't use his Cores, so all he could do was basically stand in his designated spot. Not like he followed the rules though. He did air guitar and bass, visibly laughed at all of the antics between Chris and Shawn, and even bent down and carried conversations with the fans during breaks. Either way, fans went home with the knowledge that the Autobots were people and not the giant robots thae government tried to portray them as. 

____

_“I can't die, I can't die  
I can't die, I can't die  
You all stare, but you'll never see, something inside me  
You all stare, but you'll never see, something inside me  
You all stare, but you'll never see, something inside me  
You all stare, but you'll never see, there's something in you I despise.”  
_

_____ _

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_____ _

__Snapping back to reality Kai grins under his battlemask. Corey was in top vocal form today after being on break for three days. Those three days were fucking amazing and Kai nearly bust a line laughing too hard. Mick was acting weird but he played six rounds of COD and had the teen choking on laughter so Kai wasn’t complaining. Scanning over the crowd, Kai hears an underlying buzz that wasn't any of the instruments on stage. The buzz is getting steadily louder and starting to crackle...it almost sounded like electrici-  
_ _

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_Shit! _the  
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__Whipping his head around, Kai locks on to the power generator that's bolted into the rafters on the stage. It’s violently shaking and giving off bright arcs of electricity that to any outside observer, is a part of the performance. Another scan shows that the amount of energy-  
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_It’s going to fucking blow!_

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___  
The fucking generator was directly above the goddamn stage. Right above Corey and the others oblivious to the danger above them.  
_ _ _

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___Kai didn’t think. He didn’t think about how it looked when he suddenly jumped into motion. He didn’t think about the raised voices of confusion and fear as he tore down the path to the stage and he didn’t even contemplate the growing looks of shock that edged on fear as he jumped over the final barrier, over the stage and wrapped his arms around the generator just as it exploded_ _ _

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___  
Thousand she of volts of electricity slammed into his frame. Kai crashed to the ground in a staticky scream of agony mixed with the ear splitting buzz of discharging energy. Kai’s back arched off the ground and he felt what seemed like several internal components pop and crackle onslaught of power and his vision wavered. Out of the corner of his optics, he saw Corey running toward him only to be tackled to the ground by security. And Mick being pinned to the ground by five guys. The pain didn’t end and Kai couldn’t stop screaming. With a final writhe that nearly shattered his optics, Kai fell offline._ _ _

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	6. Chapter 6

“What do we do? It’s not like we can take him to a hospital!”

“I mean what about a mechanics shop?”

“You little-”

“Ow! Fuck you Clown!”

Mick glared at the interaction between Corey and Shawn. The show had been canceled in the light that one of the main generators had exploded and moving the unconscious, several ton, 35 foot tall robot had taken three cranes to get him away from crazy fans.

Also the fact that somebody was getting fired. The faulty power generator had always been an issue with the band. Sid nearly got electrocuted when he touched a metal part of his DJ rig, Paul lost a good bass when he plugged up to a amp and it burst into flames, and Corey nearly got hit by an arc from the damn thing. Management always brushed off their concerns and the techies always seemed to disappear when something happened.

But this? Hell no, Mick was going to find someone and have a long talk. With his fists. Glancing over to Kai, he winced at the blackened armor and blistered paint. He had never seen the Autobot so still and so silent. Even on the off times where there was enough open space that Kai could stretch out in his bipedal mode, there was always a semblance of life. His optics always had a faint glow, you could hear faint whirring from his systems and the shushurring from his vents. Also the fact that Kai talked in his sleep. There was never a time where you couldn't hear faint muttering coming from the teen as he slept.

Corey glared at Shawn and flipped him off.

“Well, it’s not like we can call Ratchet. The medic guy at the Bot base. If Kai was awake, he could call him and get him to come here and he’d be okay.”

Mick froze at Corey’s words.

“Wait, do you still have Kai’s phone?”

Corey frowed and reached in his jacket to pull out a phone. Kai always gave it to one of the members of the band before a show and they could always depend on getting a tight hug afterward when Kai asked for it back. It led to a few impressive fights as they tried to be the last person Kai would see before he headed out into the crowd.

“Yeah, but he has a password on it. I’ve tried figuring it out but I get locked out everytime. He probably has it as some fancy robot code or something.”

Corey tossed the phone at Mick who caught it with one hand. The singer shot a strange look at Kai’s still frame behind Mick and walked off with Shawn in an effort to figure out what to do. Mick turned the phone over and looked over the worn case. It was originally silver and black, but the amounts of wear made it seem white and black. Pressing the power button, Mick looked at the strange lock-screen photo. It was a stylistic drawing of a knight against a background of a blue, pink, and white stripe followed by another pink and then blue stripe. Mick felt like he’d seen the background somewhere but couldn’t recall. There was a saying in the info part of the screen: I AM MANY THINGS, BUT HUMAN IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

Password...a tap revealed a keyboard.

“Come on TGP, give me a hint.” Mick sighed.

Mick walked over to Kai’s blackened foot and sat against the metal. It was cold and that fact alone made Mick sick to his stomach. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and tried desperately not to shiver at the cold seeping into his back and what that meant.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A simple flashback for the next chapter. Mick and Kai are cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cute shit. Cute shit. Kai spits bars. Cute shit.

“Mick! Catch me!”

Mick barely had time to react as Kai jumped off the stage and landed in the guitarists arms.

“Good catch, nice that I didn’t hurt you like last time!” Kai briefly hugged Mick around his neck and immediately jumped out of his arms to sprint down the path between the rails. Mick chuckled as the teen did a cartwheel while shrieking nonsensically.

Everyone had their own ways of preparing for a show and it seemed like Kai’s was to act like he was hyped up on 10 tons of sugar. Watching Kai do a particularly dizzying series of complicated flips, Mick turns to do a final check on his guitars. He had already checked them last show but time had proven that it didn’t hurt to check again. But before he could finally plug up he heard Kai singing.

“T twenty seven sixteen, that’s numbers that call to me!

T twenty seven sixteen, what’s that? Well, that means free!”

Each lyric was accentuated with a bright flash of BlueCore and a pretty smooth dance move that drew Micks eyes to Kai’s body. He has almost disproportionately long legs and arms that were always hidden beneath a hoodie and jeans. Kai only took his hoodie and jeans off when he slept and then it was a t-shirt and sweatpants. Mick idly wondered what he looked like without the clothes before jerking himself out of that train of thought. Kai was pansexual, but why would anyone like him be interested in a guy like Mick?

“My names TGP, or T twenty seven sixteen

I got a story to tell, a tale right about me.

You see I’m a badass dude, with bright blue eyes

I turn into a truck, and I rules the skies.

But anyway, not that I’m not hot

Imma tell you bout a band, a band called Slipknot.”

Mick snorted and decided to see what Kai would say. He was already attracting the attention of quite a few roadies and some stage staff.

“First there’s Mick, a big ass dude, he don’t say much and then its rude

But he’s a master of the six string, headbanging too, but don't ask him shit, cause then it'll be true.

Then there’s Corey, King of scream, neck too big for a body that’s lean

But he’s a nice ass dude with a big ass heart, only prob is he has killer farts.”

Mick howled in laughter, recalling the incident that Kai was referencing. He had taken the guys for a ride in his truck mode as a welcome break from being in the tour bus and Corey had briefly forgotten that the vehicle he was riding was alive, sentient and could smell. The resulting gas cloud had all of the band members gagging and ended with Kai booting them out on the side of the road while he took a brief supersonic flight so that the violent air stream would wipe out the odor as much as possible. Kai noticed his laugh and did a cheeky salute while doing a dance move that had Micks eyes locked on his body.

“It seems that time isn’t on my side, or I’d continue this lyrical ride

But the gates are opening and I hear the screams, of some diehard fans and a few edgy teens.”

Kai bowed and spun at the gathered crowd who cheered and clapped their hands as he activated his thrusters and flew the short distance to the stage and landed next to Mick who was grinning.

“Trying to start your own gig, huh?”

Kai scoffed while his eyes were a bight blue from the use of his Cores.

“Hell, i might " he snickered.

Mick laughed and wrapped his arms around Kai and to his delight, Kai pressed against his side. Swallowing down the flutters in his chest, Mick shook his head. He had a question to ask Kai but true to the words in his impromptu song, the roar that was only the sound that a few thousand fans could make was growing steadily louder.

“Well, you ready for the show?”

Kai looked up at him, his eyes flashing.

“I was built ready.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help is coming

Micks eyes flashed open from the memory. T twenty seven sixteen! That had to be it! Kai was notorious for scrawling it on the bottom of the set list and even incited the wrath of Jim when he pranked him by pretending to carve it on one of his Fenders. Grabbing the phone, Mick swiped to show the lock screen.

Ttwentysevensixteen

Try Again. Maybe all caps would work?

TTWENTYSEVENSIXTEEN

Mick sighed in frustration and thought hard. There was another way Kai had written it, but it was in numbers. Maybe that was it.

T2716

Try Again. Mick wanted to scream. Kai could be dead and there was no way to fix him by themselves.

“Dammit Kai. Why do you have to be such a hero?” Mick pressed his head against the cold metal behind him and clenched his fist. Sometimes he thought that Kai was too good for them. He was young, bright, funny and had a kindness streak a mile wide. But also a cruel streak deeper than that. Mick witnessed the aftermath of when a suit tried to talk down to Kai, calling just a mindless machine that would be the next step of pleasure robots. Mick had never seen Kai so coldly angry or so silent. The next day the guy was reported to be in the hospital from a car accident. No evidence even vaguely pointed back to Kai. Kai went on interviews with Joey and prevented them from being condescending and even helped get them in bed on time after a night of drinking.

Wait.

TGP.

T was the 20th letter of the alphabet. G was the 7th and P was the 16th.

Put them together and you get 20716.

Mick grabbed the phone and swiped again.

T20716

Access Approved

Mick chuckled in joy as the phone unlocked for him. The home-screen was another stylistic knight but the background colors were a pink, yellow and then blue stripe. Mick swiped a few times to figure out where the apps were but didn’t click on anything. He didn’t know what might be sensitive or top secret to the teen and he wasn’t gonna find out. Finding the contacts app he swiped and scrolled down to the R’s. Ratchet. There was a photo of a white and red robot with a scowl.

Tapping the phone button, Mick held the phone to his ear and waited. Kai always said that Ratchet was always cranky and had wrenches ready to fl-

“What do you want Reikai? You’ve missed your daily call with Orion and Sideswipe is driving me up the fragging wall about a show that got cancelled!”

Mick shifted uncomfortably before clearing this throat.

“Uh, this isn’t Kai. This is Mick, the guitarist of Slipknot. Kai’s been hurt really-“

Ratchet cut Mick off.

“What happened? Did he do something stupid again?!”

Mick was suddenly overcome by rage. How dare Ratchet talk down about Kai like that? He said that the medic was cranky, not an asshole!

“No, Kai got hurt protecting us from death. He saved our lives! A generator was about to explode and Kai shielded us from it. But he’s been out of it and he’s all burnt black and he feels really cold. We’re worried about him.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Mick was bombarded with questions.

“Tell me how long he’s been out and the state of his armor. Does it have large black marks or several thinner ones all over him?”

“Er,” Mick got up and took a moment to climb up on Kai’s knee. Large patches of burnt paint crumbled off to reveal scorch marks on the metal underneath. “About a day. Both, I guess. His chest is all burnt and there’s smaller streaks going down his arms and legs.”

There were several sounds that reminded Mick of a dial-up tone...if it was multiplied by ten and you added the sound of shredding metal over it. There was another blast of the demented dial-up sound but in a lower register. It almost sounded like the games that Sid and Kai would play where Kai would make some random digital screeching noise and Sid would try his best to replicate it on his rig.

“Fraggit, I’ll be there in an hour, two maximum. In the meanwhile, don’t let any humans touch him! You’ll do more harm than good!” The call cut off and Mick stared at the screen in confusion. The guitarist needed a long talk with Reikai and the definition of ‘cranky’.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help comes. New character. Ratchet beats the hell outta someone with his wrench.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me how I'm doing!!

“Where is he?!”  
Mick gaped in amazement as the white and red Autobot stormed by the deserted soundstage and rounded on the collection of trailers and tour buses. Staff scurried out of the way and he could hear someones voice yelling in the distance at another tan and black Autobot who was worriedly glancing between Ratchet and the yeller. Mick had mentioned to Clown about the Autobot medic coming but it seemed that the percussionist didnt spread the message.

“Er, you’re Ratchet, right?”

The medic glared down at the human at his feet. A brief scan revealed that it was the guitarist of this fragging so called band.

“Yes, I am. Get out of my way or I'll do your neck surgery myself.”

Mick scrambled back in shock and bewilderment wondering how the hell the robot knew about his neck pain. He was sure even Kai didn’t know. Glancing back the tan and black bot, Mick recognizes him as Orion, Kai’s best Autobot friend.

“Hey! Carry me over to Kai. I don’t feel like walking.” 

Orion knees down with a smile and extends his hand so the man can climb on.

“Good afternoon Mr. Thomson. It’s nice to see you in person. Kai has told me a lot about you.”

Mick heart warms and looks over to where Kais body was laid only to see Ratchet rip open his chestplates.

“What is he doing? Kai said that his chest was to never open like that!” his chest clenched. 

Orion stops at the feral look the medic shoots at the human sitting in his palms.

“Unless you happen to know more information about the internal workings of my patient, be quiet! Kai got hurt rescuing you and i’m sure that he’ll welcome the delay. Idiot’s in fragging stasis because of slagging burnt out wiring!”

Ratchet turns back to the black and red Autobot and plunges his hands into the large bundles of wires and cables in the chest, removing several blackened chunks that looked melted together. Carefully, Orion sets Mick on the ground. Taking a deep breath at being this close to Kais still body, Mick feels tears prickle at his eyes. He hated seeing Kai like this.

Orion walks over to Ratchet. Another glance at the guitarist and the gathered humans that are standing around watching the impromptu surgery with mixed worry and fascination. Orion switches his language to Iacon Standard.

“What’s the damage report, Ratch?”

The medic growls as he rips another burnt, half melted bundle of wiring from the connections leading to the BlueCore portion of Kai’s sparkchamber.

“Well, it’s nice to know that the fragging failsafes that we put in place in case Kai shut down due to energy discharge work, otherwise this entire place would be slagged. It’s also nice to know that the electricity didn’t spark a cascade failure. The bad news is that the electricity burnt out every fragging bit of wiring and the fragging connectors in his body. But the good news is that because that happened, there was no where for the charge to go and it just offlined all of his paint nanites. I’m just glad Kai didn't unconsciously send a Core wave through this glitched place.”

Orion glanced at the ever growing pile of wiring that was at Ratchets side. The failsafe was actually implemented by Kai himself after a string of incidents where a electric discharge triggered a brief but very powerful wave of Core across his frame. From backlash when working on electrical systems to getting shocked when giving high-fives, Kai was becoming frustrated at his energy sensitive systems. While it was handy taking out a bunch of Decepticons when they tried to interrogate him, having his systems going glitch at a simple static shock was irritating and dangerous. So Kai proposed an idea that if a large enough electrical discharge went through his body, he would immediately go into stasis. Anything lesser than that he would control. Orion had never seen the failsafe in action since it was obvious that electricity and Kai didn't mix. Even the Decepticons had learned their lessons when a shockbot went after Kai to only have his entire lower body sheared off and later on, when Kai got captured, an electric based torture resulted in nearly half of the Decepticon base destroyed. It led to Kai being rescued but still.

“The damage looks fairly recent, but from our information humans don’t regularly use energy this potent outside of power plants. They said it was a glitched generator but how long did it take them to fix it if it got this bad?”

Ratchet snarled and yanked at a particularly stubborn bit of half melted wires against a supporting Energon line. While the wires didn't damage it, a wrong pull could rupture the line and add even more problems to the ones already there.

“Frag if I know. At this point, I’m gonna wire Kai’s self preservation chips directly to his spark!” 

Orion chuckled and began the next stage of Kai’s repairs.

**************

“You slagging idiot!” *clang*

“Oww, Ratch! I did what I had to!”

*clang* “You burnt out nearly every bit of wiring in your systems!” *clang* “We had to spend all night making sure that you wouldn't short circuit when I rebooted you!” *clang*

“I don’t even know how you know what happened! Ow! Fuck you!”

“Ask one of your human friends!” *clang* There was a hundred different ways to go about disabling that generator! You only use your Cores for glitched reasons!” *clang*

“I’ll beat the living shit outta y-OW! I wasn't supposed to use my Cores at this show!”

*clang* “And when did you ever start following directions?!”

Mick, Sid and Joey all watch in morbid fascination as Ratchet used the biggest wrench in human history to beat some sense into Kai. Mick had hesitantly asked if they could come and see Kai and was told to wait a moment. Seconds later, a wrench was in the medics hands and he was whacking the shit out of Kai. Kai didn't seem to be too bothered, only baring his fangs and hissing at the white and red Autobot.

“Fuck you Ratch! Look at me! I'm all silver! The fuck I look like, Megatron?!”

*CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG*

“Imma beat the fuck outta you! Make Orion come back! His bedside manner is sorely needed! ”

Mick couldn't look away from the interaction between the medic and the frontliner. After coming back from a food run and dealing with Sid giggling over the mechanical language that Orion and Ratchet were speaking (turns out the ‘random screeching noises’ Kai let him recreate were curse words) Mick had a chance to watch the Cybertronians in action.

There was nothing humans could make that would come close to the natural movements of the Autobots. The faint whirring noises that were caused by movement and even the low rumble of the Cybertronian laugh, it just spoke of intelligent design. But that was another conversation for another day with Kai.

Who was Mick kidding.

He had fallen head over heels with the now giant silver robot with the brightest smile, the loudest laugh and wicked sense of humor. A day never went by where he didn't feel an almost dizzying rush of emotion when ever he got to spend time with Kai. And it made his own fear so much more intense when he saw Kai writhe in agony when Mick was stuck under the weight of five security guards. He didn't ever think he'd ever stop hearing that horrible scream in his dreams.

He wasn't the only one affected. Joey was unable to eat or sleep for six hours afterward, only shakily spinning his drum sticks. Shawn and Corey went off somewhere and Shawn came back pissed off after two hours. Chris, Sid, Jim and Paul decided to hunt down someone responsible for the electrical failure but as always, no one was to be found. No one knew where the hell Craig went, but given how he looked very upset during the process of moving Kai, they knew he was dealing with it badly too.

Every human knew that electrocution was a painful death. Kai was cold, unresponsive and burnt. Even though Kai was an advanced alien warrior, you couldn't beat death. The entire tour crew had an air of hushed dread. Like if they broke the silence of made any unnecessary noise, the fear would come true. But now that Kai was back in business and loudly cursing the air blue, the tour was back to the chaotic order it normally was.

“Mick help! I'm being abused! Help!”

Kai was laughing his ass off while fending off more whacks by Ratchets infamous wrench. The medic had a sadistic grin while he mock fought with the warrior and Sid was choking on his laughter. The guitarist jogged over and nodded at Kai's nonverbal signal to make sure it was okay to pick him up. 

Carefully picking the man up with his hand, Kai smoothly transitions him to his palm, with one hand braced in front of him.

“See! I have the human! You cannot harm me while my human is in my possession!”

Mick snorted and rolled his eyes even while his heart warmed

“Who the hell said I was yours?”

Kai send the most pitiful look down at him before busting out in guffaws. Mick grinned.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai confronts Mick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from Kai's pov

I groaned as I rolled over in the insanely soft bed. The hotel house that we were staying in was amazing.

Or at least I thought so, I didn't get a chance to see much through a sleep deprived haze early this morning when we came in. The only thing I paid attention to was the correct angle to fling myself into the pillow. Though I did have a fuzzy memory of stumbling over the last step on the tour bus. Mick caught me and I think he looked at me weirdly but then again, my systems were begging at me to sleep so it wasn’t really trusted. A flashing light on my HUD and an angry growl from my stomach reminded me of the basically piss poor diet I had been eating while on tour. Ratchet would throw his entire medbay at me if he knew what and how little I had been eating. Even though continental breakfasts and fast food was amazing, I never thought I’d look at a McDonalds and frown. Frown! Energon was looking positively delectable nowadays!

Another pissed off growl from the abdominal region and I giggled. Food would have to wait until a shower. Hopefully, so did the others because I caught a whiff of Jim the other day and nearly passed out. How could anyone smell that bad?

“Y'all idiots really stink.”

Sitting up, I absentmindedly plucked my hair while looking around the room I had been directed toward. It was...homely. There was artful figurines that matched well with the paint which matched well with the curtains which matched well with the bed spread. But not in that clinical chain hotel way. In an actual comfortable way that showed that whoever ran this place was attentive. A muffled pop and I pulled my suitcase out of my subspace. I needed a shower before Joey killed the hot water again. 

Grabbing a clean set of clothes and my toiletries I headed to the joining bathroom. There was the standard hotel soaps but since I didn't want to be bald, I couldn't use it. Yes! Hot fucking water! Joey wasn’t up yet!

You know, tour was everything and nothing I’d ever imagined. I knew it would be stressful, tiring and hard work. I also knew that being on stage would be rewarding with the roar of the crowd.

But I was not prepared for the utter grueling nights with only three hours of sleep and a handful of cookies from the green room. Being in three different time zones a week. The utter lack of privacy on a tour bus and how close the arguments came. The utter uselessness of staff when it came to fixing the electrical problems. The craziness of fans trying to crawl in my armor when I performed. How close I came to passing out from overuse of my Cores. Or, that’s what I told them. No need for them to know how close I was to overloading when I overdid it. Paul would never let me live it down.

But then, the absolute rush when I came out on stage or uncloaked in the pit. The saturated insanity during the breakdowns and the nearly dizzying connection after shows. After a show when we were fucking exhausted and coming down off of the adrenaline rushes we would all would just hug and talk and it was just the well worn sense of a job well done. It was the long nights of laughing till I could barely breathe and when we did get food, eating until it hurt and then me laughing until it hurt at all their faces when I cleaned house. The long talks with Corey when he wasn’t high or drunk and the massive fuckery when me, Chris, Clown, Sid and Craig got together. Sid was a massive Voltron fan and the whole front of him hating me was irritation that Sunstreaker was an asshole and he was scared that I would be too. Every time there was enough space that I could shift to my bipedal mode, Sid was always climbing on top of me and singing the theme song. 

Rinsing my hair, I checked the date on my HUD. Sids birthday was coming up, I should do an easy armor and paint nanite alteration and make his entire life. Sid would probably nut on the spot. Jim and Paul tried to compete on who would teach me what instrument and I broke hearts when I said I already played bass. I honestly thought Mick would break down when I told him. Paul grinned for a week. I had accidentally heard Disasterpiece without bass once and I thought I had started glitching. It was so bad. Joey was determined to teach me stick tricks and when I showed him some tricks that I had taught myself from using my sword I thought the man would kiss me on the spot. Clown grabbed my ass a billion times. What can I say, I have a nice butt.

The only person who I didn't have an amazing relationship was Mick. He was nice at first in his own way, but when me and Corey interacted he’d leave the room or busy himself with something. It even seemed that he was avoiding me. I couldn’t think of anything I did wrong but then Mick would start a random conversation and scare the shit out of me. He moves way too quiet for a big guy. I mean people say the same shit about me but it’s different when it’s towards me! Don't stalk a predator!

I finished rinsing off and cut the water flow to the shower. This place had the best towels. Shit felt like a cloud. Anyway, I guess that while we are here for however long, I’ll see if I can talk to Mick. See if I can feel him out a little bit. I finished getting dressed and gave a long glance at my hoodie. Nah, i’ll leave it off this one time. Opening my door I laughed at the memory of the first time the band saw me without my hoodie. It was maybe three months in and I had to take it off because it had gotten snagged on the stage edge and ripped the sleeve off. I planned on ripping the other sleeve off to make it even but until I got five seconds to myself, it would have to wait. I had balled the hoodie up under my arm and headed back stage to where the rest of the band was. But the second I walked in the green room where they were all undressing I nearly got my arms gnawed off by Sid, Joey and Shawn. I guess suddenly seeing my arms without a hoodie or sweatshirt was comparable to the Mona Lisa. That being said, I told Sid if he ever licked my arm again i’d tie him to the top of the tour bus. He’d probably enjoy it, crazy fucker.

Walking down a hall with some replicas of famous paintings I descended a staircase and emerged into a living room. But before I could continue to see I spotted Mick on the couch playing COD. He was good, really good. Better than the rest of the guys!

“Holy shit! I need to play against you more often!” I called out.

Well, I wasn’t expecting Mick to jump, and I definitely wasn't expecting him to jump so hard his shades fell off as he crashed to the floor. Smothering a snicker I rushed around the couch, pressed pause on the controller with one hand and helped him off the floor with the other.

“Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mick cant confess. Why do i do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Micks pov

Mick stared at Kai in shock as the younger man reached down to offer a hand to help him up. Mick instinctively reached another hand up but then his brain short circuited when he saw Kai’s bare arm. He had the longest arms with such soft hands and-

With a jolt, Mick scrambled back from Kai and got to his feet with a internal shake. What the hell was he doing? Ogling over Kai’s fucking arms like some creep. Jesus, he needed to get a grip.

Mick picked up his shades and turned back to Kai to see the teen sweeping him up and down with bright blue eyes.

‘Well, you scan all green, but you should eat soon. Did I really startle you that bad? I’m sorry.”

Mick forced a chuckle and shook his head while slipping his shades back on. Sitting on the couch he takes what he hopes will be a silent breath.

“Yeah, heh. I guess you were in stealth mode, huh?”

To his relief and chagrin, Kai plops himself down on the couch with a grin and a eyeroll.

‘Yeah right, I wasn't even trying. But I know one thing about you Mick.”

The guitarist feels his heart rate skyrocket. He had to stay calm, there was no way Kai could know right? He’d been acting cool, right? Jesus, Corey would kill him.

“Oh, what’s that? Finally figured out that I know that you use your Cores to scratch your ass?”

Kai guffawed loudly before grabbing a pillow and smothering the laugh into the fabric.

“Oh yeah, and how would you know that particular information?”

Without pause, Mick fired back. “You mean it’s true?”

Mick was rewarded with more ugly laughter from the teen and a pillow thrown at his head that he easily catches. Glancing over to the teen he snickers at Kai’s pouting face.

“Gimme back my pillow. No one gave you the right to steal it from me.”

Mick snorts and stuffs it behind his back while grabbing the controller and exiting the paused game.

“Yeah, yeah. You shouldn't have thrown it kiddo.” Mick snarked.

Kai made a staticky screeching noise deep in his throat, a sound that Corey was begging to be taught. “You shouldn't have kept it meanie. Now give me back my pillow and hand me that other controller, I want to actually play against someone!” he mock whined.

Mick sighed and got up to get the second Playstation controller. Without preamble, he threw it at Kai who caught it easily. “Then what was the whole thing with Jim and Paul?” He tried to sit before Kai demanded something else.

Kai grinned evilly. “Oh, that was a walk in the park! I hacked into the system and beamed myself in. Compared to Vehicons and Eradicons that are actually half trained, those zombies were pieces of cake. The shitty kind too. That had play-doh icing.” Kai had the evilest expression and that made Mick grin too.

“Oh so you mean that they were right when they said you were cheating? How did you do that anyway? You were sitting there with the controller in your hands and laughing!” 

Kai snickered as he set up his rifle and sidearm, eyes glimmering underneath the dark brown of his irises. “Heh, I set a subroutine to grin and laugh every time there was a flash of light or an explosion. I also set my eyes to look at four different points every three seconds. It’s easy if you know how. Kinda like cruise control.” Mick raised his eyebrows, impressed. It made sense for a robotic race to have control over every bit of their bodies but it was still shocking to hear how specific it got. Mick chose one of the more intermediate missions and the screen proceeded to split in half.

“So...were there videogames on Cybertron?”

Kai took a moment to set up his sniper nest before answering. “Actually yeah there were. I’ve never been to Cybertron but I've heard tons of stories. There were normal handheld ones for casual playing, y’know, like nintendo Switches. Those were for kids. But for stuff like this? Consoles and PC’s? You could beam into the system. Like VR.”

Mick hummed before making sure all of his ammo was topped up. To be honest, VR was nothing like the stuff Kai talked about. You could feel things which the guitarist thought was pretty cool. But as he was casing out his surroundings in the game, he couldn't help but glance over at Kai. Christ, everything about him was magnetic. His smile, his laugh, his enthusiasm to help and his sharp tongue. A tongue that was currently stuck out of his mouth as he focused on the screen-

Jesus!

Mick physically shook himself and firmly focused back on the game. He was making sure there would be enough cover.

“So, am I gonna get a reason why you're avoiding me?”

Holy fuck, talk about dropping a conversation bomb! Mick felt his heart starting back up into a rapid pace as Kai loudly pressed a sequence of commands in the controller.

“Uh..”

Kai snorted and Mick briefly saw his eyes flick down to the floor. He looked sad. “C’mon Mick, its obvious. Just, I don’t know. I hang out with everyone else but you on a regular basis. Was...was it something I did?”

Mick paused the game and set the controller down. His heart was in his throat and he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. God he wanted to tell Kai everything but even he knew that this was the worst time to do so. Clasping his hands and looking down, Mick heard Kai pause his side of game and shift to face him.

“Mick…?”

The guitarist felt his eyes well up with the emotions in him and took a deep breath.

“Its nothing. I-I have just been in a weird mindset lately. It's not you. Trust me it's not you. I always just kinda do my own thing away from the guys.”

Mick didn't have to look at Kai’s face to know that it was shit excuse. While it was rooted in some truth, the majority was a bold faced lie. All he could do was hope Kai wouldn't push it. Kai could be painfully observant and Mick hoped that this time, Kai would just take the information given to him and not push for more.

“If you say so Mick. Just, I’d like to hang out more. Is weird when I say in an interview that there is a band joke when it’s really eight people who know the joke and Mick is off playing guitar or destroying everyone's kill count in Call Of Duty.” Kai sighed. 

Mick had to look away and thickly swallowed the lump in his throat. His heart felt like it was pounding out one of Joey's drum solos and his stomach was churning so much he was surprised he didn't spectacularly vomit all over the hardwood living room floor. Never in his entire life did he hope Kai wouldn't scan him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More slowburn stuff. I love writing from Micks perspective. One braincell boi.

Kai had passed out in the living room, arms and legs at uncomfortable angles in an attempt to fit his lanky frame on the loveseat. His hair was half on the seat, half on the floor and based on the way slight trembles ran through his frame, he was freezing in the over-enthusiastic AC.

He also was fucking beautiful or some shit. Mick gritted his teeth as his heart rate sped up as he raked his eyes down Kai's frame. Kai was so small, thin arms and legs giving away no hint to the strength and power of the being inside. Mick swore that he could wrap one hand around Kai's upper forearm with room to spare.

Mick shook his head and turned to leave the room before he really started to go down creep lane when Kai shifted with a groan. His dark red shirt, rode up with every movement and when Kai finally subconsciously lay on his back, Mick was red faced and stirring in his pants. Fuck. Goddamnit. Mick was more than ready to lock himself in the bus bathroom when a voice rang out in the silence.

"Yo Mick have you seen my sticks? Chris said he put them in here."

Joeys voice startled the guitarist and he spun around with a jolt, his tall frame nearly overbalancing. Mick stammered ti answer. "I-uh, no. I haven't."

The small drummer raised an eyebrow at the reaction and Mick cursed. Had Joey seen him staring at Kai? Fuck how long was he standing there? The drummer didn't act like anything was amiss and looked over the drink counter, finally grabbing his sticks and turning around.

Spotting Kai, Joey smiled and shook his head. "You should take him to his bunk, man. It's freezing in here." Joey turned to leave, a small smile on his features. Fuck. Fuck shit that wasnt a good idea. It was already that looking at Kai made him react like a horny teenager but to touch him? Shit.

Another groan and Mick was stricken. It wasn't like he never carried his bandmates to bed before. Drunken nights on the bus were common and Paul for one snored like a train when he passed out. Or Sid who like to crash in the middle of the damn hallway. He could carry Kai to his bunk. It was fine and totally normal. Not weird at all.

But as the hulking guitarist took a step towards Kai, his temperature felt like it rose 10 degrees. Shit he was probably blushing. Shit. Gathering his willpower and a mental chant to 'stop being a pussy Thomson.', Mick scooped Kai up bridal style. The kid was limp, but his head rested right in the crook of Mick's neck and shoulder. Fucking hell. 

Traversing down the stairs to the lower bunks, Mick took time to actually look at Kai. He was...pretty. No, beautiful. No, magnificent. Mick stumbled as he missed a step and cursed as he nearly tipped down the stairs. Cursing again he regained his footing. What the fuck was wrong with him? Kai hummed under his breath and turned his head into Mick's shoulder. All was fine until the nearly burning hot exhale shot into his skin and directly into his jeans. 

"What-what the fuck." Mick nearly ran the remaining steps and rushed into the below living room. Thank fuck it was empty and the hallway leading to the bunks was clear. This was ridiculous. Really? A grown ass man, not a stupid teenager. The bunks were empty too. Moving his arms to drop Kai, he froze. While he would normally do the same to his bandmates, the idea of dropping Kai into the cold sheets seemed cruel. Carefully, Mick rolled Kai into his bunk and with more force than necessary, slid the curtain closed. 

If anyone was in the bathroom, he would kill them. Shitting or not.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY. FUCKING FINALLY.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT GETS WORSE FROM HERE.

Kai hurried to catch up to the massive guitarist. He hoped he didn't actually make Mick mad. It was a prank!

Directing some Core to the stage beneath him, Kai jumped over some yelping stage hands and scrambled to follow the rapidly disappearing form. Fuck, Mick looked pissed. 

Fuck, he didn't want to actually make him mad! Kai was just tired of Mick always acting so funny around him! Mick would act like he wanted to be friends but then walk away and look at him funny when he was nice back. Kai didn't know what the hell was up with Mick, only that his spark felt weird when the guitarist was around.

So after Mick finished his soundcheck, Kai asked one of the techs if anyone was currently plugged up. After visually confirming the 'no', Kai grabbed his Bluetooth speaker, one of Mick's stringless Jacksons, a guitar strap and did what he thought was a pretty nice rendition of Never Again by Nickelback. Core effects and all.

Yes, horrible choice to play around more than 0 metalheads but Kai needed to aim where it hurt. And Mick's face as nearby stage hands chuckled and rolled their eyes was worth it...

Until Mick balled his fists, turned around and stalked off stage. Kai carefully set the guitar down, knowing a stage hand would retrieve it, grabbed his phone and took off after the tall man. Fuck, maybe he shouldn't have done Nickelback.

Mick had just stepped through the exit door to the alleyway when Kai caught up to him. The Autobot reached up and placed a hand against the muscled back. "Mick, I-"

In hindsight, Kai shouldn't have touched Mick when he had his own issues with being touched, but nothing would have prepared him for Mick to whirl around, grab his arms and effortlessly pin him against the concrete wall, balancing him with with a knee in between his legs. Kai barely had tensed from the suddenly very intimate position before a fiery kiss was planted on his lips.

Mick didn't know what suddenly possessed him. But suddenly he didn't care about what Corey would do, he didn't care what his bandmates would say and he didn't give a fuck what the world would say.

But seeing Kai crudely air guitar to a Nickelback song on one of his own signature guitars made Mick feel like his very body was suddenly lit in flames. 

Not even his own bandmates had the balls to blatantly fuck with him like that. The urge to pin Kai to the stage and fuck him in front of everyone until they both couldn't walk filled his soul. Fuck, he couldn't handle it. He left right as the song ended and the stage echoed with laughs. 

He even heard Kai start to chase him and picked up the pace. He didn't know what he would do if he had to talk to Kai right now. He wasn't completely under his own control. But when he felt Kai place a small hand against his back, felt the breath of his words against his skin...he snapped.

He gathered Kai in his arms, hoisted him against the wall and poured the last 3 months of sexual frustration into a heavy kiss.

He roughly placed Kai back down, ignoring how the man limply slid to the floor as he slammed out the back door and onto the bus.

His body ached deep inside as he sat on the first couch he saw. He didn't normally spend much time down here with the other guys but he needed to be around his brothers to center himself again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Told you it gets worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone helo me come uo with a good name for 'the man'. CAnt think of one sinster enough.

Kai dazedly wandered down a distant hall of the concert hall, eyes only watching so he didn't crash into a stack of broken chairs or an occasional discarded podium. He idly drew up his doorwings, causing them to flutter in the cool draft coming toward him.

So lost in thought, Kai didn't notice the hooded man quietly walking up behind him. He seemed hesitant in his steps, wary of what he had heard that the Autobot could do. He clenched his fists. Fucking robots. They were only going to make the world worse! Fucking machines killed his sister in their stupid war! If they were so protective and powerful why wasn't she here!

A new resolve in his eye, the man strode forward, slamming a heavy hand down on the Autobots shoulder. The robot jumped, shouting out as he whirled around to face the hooded man. He snickered, like this thing was actually scared. Just another ploy to sway humans humans to its side. The Autobot backed up, keeping the shining blue fairy wings against the wall as he flickered his eyes up and down the abandoned hall.

That was what he wanted. Ricky and Chris from that dumb emocore band hung out with Clown and Corey Taylor from Slipknot. Clown had told Ricky that Kai was sensitive in his doorwings. Ricky had excitedly told this to his other bandmates and didn't pay attention that his bodyguard was directly behind him.

Sensitive eh? He would see just how sensitive.

He edged closer, causing the Autobot to press tighter against the wall. Wasn't this supposed to be a fighting robot? It was acting like it was scared of him.

"You act like you're fucking scared of me. Not so strong now huh?"

The robot lunged forward and the stranger saw his chance. He snapped forward and wrapped his hand around the closest part of the fairy wing. Digging his fingers in, he yanked upward. 

He wasn't expecting the piece in his hand to disintegrate into warm blue liquid or the ragged part seeming to melt into itself, making the wound bigger. More blue liquid splashed to the floor. The robot froze as a shiver wracked its frame then it's eyes widened as his own rapidly glowing irises stared into the mans grey own.

The scream at point blank range had him flinching away blindly, arms flailing as he went to cover his ears. His fist connected with something as he whirled away. The sound seemed to last forever, ending in a high pitched shriek. Opening his eyes, Sean saw the robot curled up on its side, back writhing in agony as the wings continued to melt onto itself. Oh, he'd give it something to be in pain. A few stomps on the wings left them stubs and the mans footsteps splashed as he hurried away. Looking back down the hall, he saw the robot shakily crawling away.

Something in him turned cold. He shook it away. He did it for her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mick gets to see his poor boyfriend in pain.

Mick refused to let anyone else hold Kai through the whole process. After Ratchet had finished cauterizing what was left of the doorwings, Mick joined his brothers to hunt down the scumbag who did it. After a new shirt, his old one was in shreds.

The concert hall was buzzing with confusion, several techs seeing Kai sprint pass them, hearing the crying and then Ratchet race into the parking lot. Many following the shimmering trail of blue splashes to the giant puddle of BlueCore. Blue footprints led away to a side door that was an alternate entrance to the stage. BlueCore soaked sneakers were found in a nearby trash can.

Mick took that information and went to direct source, striding through the Motionless In White camp directly up to the musicans bus. The bouncer tried to stop him but Mick shot him a patented Thomson glare that had him shakily opening the doors.

Mick immediately bowled over the skinny one with the beanie. The taller one with makeup started to shout before before he realized who it was. "Hey man, I don't appreciate you bowling over my bassist but what's going on?"

Mick had to take several steadying breaths, Beanie getting up off the floor to stand by Makeups side.

"Kai's been hurt by one if your crew. His first name is Sean and he's someone named Rickys bodyguard."

Beanie froze, horror flooding through his body. "I-im Ricky. But Sean wouldn't hurt Kai!"

Mick had Ricky by his shirt and against the wall in the next second. His ears roared as his blood pressure skyrocketed. God he wanted to find the bodyguard, but he had no qualms about settling for another dumbass either.

A hand on his shoulder had him whipping around to be face to face with Shawn. The look in his eye had him carefully setting Ricky down who was dragged from his reach by Makeup. "Sorry. Kai's really fuckin hurt."

Makeup checked his friend and narrowed his gaze. "How hurt? You cant just grab my friends because one of my crew tried to punch-"

Luckily Shawn stepped up and Mick got a moment to tune him out as he explain the situation. It wasn't Micks fault that words were hard to come by when he was like this! His heart seemed to ache with every breath, his ears rang with the memories of Kai's cries and all he could see was the giant puddle of BlueCore that he had splashed through. 

If Kai was human, he would have been dead.

He could feel Kai's hands scrambling for purchase through the agony, unable to find purchase and instead shuddering through it all. Kais nails sunk into his skin, dragging deep lines as he spasmed from the pain. There were bruises on his ribs where Mick had to pin Kai's arms down, the Autobot delirious from the pain, Ratchets lined face grim in his periphery.

Mick clenched his fists, as red ran through his vision. They would find this scum piece of shit and Mick would enjoy the time he had.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More insight into what happened from last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its gonna start getting choppy yall. After this is when my interest started dying. Ill update as far as i can but soon the plot wil be left behind for little vignettes following thr stopping and starting of my muse. Sorry.

Mick had never felt so conflicted in his life.

Usually his thought process was simple. Get peace and quiet, and kill whoever ruined his peace and quiet that wasn't his bandmates.

Then Kai came.  
And everything was turned into a compete mess. Now his thoughts were counting Kai into them without his consent. Get peace and quiet, invite Kai into the quiet because god knows he needs a break from all the attention, kill anyone who disturbed their time.

All thems and theys, and plurals instead of the singular.

And Mick was slowly starting to think through the tightness in his chest when he saw Kai smile, how his heart picked up when he heard him laugh, and the sweaty palms when Kai went in for the hugs that he always half heartedly fought. How could you resist the eyes he gave when you didn't want one? 

Touring, shows, interviews and photoshoots. People were always taking away from his peace and quiet. Now the only quiet he got was the hotels. When Kai would come in every now and then nervously laughing under his breath about bad dreams and worse memories. Asking Mick questions with his eyes that he never seemed to be able to say. Questions Mick answered with a semi irritated grunt at his sleep being interrupted but truly feeling complete with Kai curled up at his side.

And then when Kai stumbled on the bus that fateful evening, pupils narrowed to pinpoints, Energon gushing from the tattered remains of once beautiful doorwings. Everyone frozen as Kai's words hit them in verbal agony.

"He hurt....he hurt me. Please....it hurts!"

Kai only survived two more steps before collapsing and writhing in more pain. Mick had wordlessly picked him up, and cradled him to his chest, part of his brain stood to attention at the positions of their bodies before his concern washed it away. Someone had hurt Kai. He would kill them. His heart felt like it would pound out of his chest when he realized that it wouldnt fix the problem. There was no peace to be found now.

Then Kai began to cry, horrible keens of pain that made your heart want to fold onto itself. They grew in volume until Kai was sobbing openly in Mick's arms, punctuated only by gasps and cries of 'please', 'hurts' and 'why'.

The back of Kai's hoodie was soaked and dripping blue by the time Ratchet arrived, his holo-form betraying his horrified expression when he saw Kai's mutilated back. Mick had tried to comfort him, listening to the quiet whispers of his bandmates as they waited for the Medic. 

Ratchet cursed in Cybertronix as he laid sight on Kai. "Oh Kai. No, no. Who did this to you?"

Harder sobbing, and weak shaking of his head. Mick wanted desperately to hug him but was wary of the Energon. Kai had mentioned that his Energon was fine by itself and so was his BlueCore, but mixed they became violently corrosive.

Ratchet pressed his fingers to a spot on the back of Kai neck and a small port slid to view. A receiving piece formed out of the Ratchets finger and he plugged home, but not without a flinch from Kai. Ratchet growled and Kai's sobs hiccuped, then grew in intensity. Mick shifted, his hands flexing in the fabric of Kai's hoodie. 

"Frag! Where are you-" Then he gasped in shock and looked done at Kai with a unreadable look. "You don't have any relaying circuitry because you don't have actual doorwings. Oh Primus."

Mick was tired of not knowing what was going on. His Kai was a sobbing mess in his arms and there was someone out there who thought they could get away with it. Mick would be sure to utterly break the misconception.

"What's going on? What do you mean?" Mick was rapidly brought back to awareness that his bandmates were on the bus too, but they didn't seem to notice his lack of awareness. In fact that all seemed to be stuck in the same question he was: Stay here with Kai or track that fucker down and stomp the shit out of him. 

Joey slowly sat up from where he was sitting across from Mick, his voice shaking. "Is he...going to be okay?" The drummer had always seen Kai as a bit unbreakable and depended on his strength. Seeing Kai in this state of agony was hurting him in a sickening way.

Ratchet disconnected from the port on Kai's neck and scanned Kai's back. The entire beam lit up red. His eyes darkened and he turned to Mick. "I need you to restrain Kai. I've human-locked him so he won't hurt you, but he will fight you as hard as he currently can."

Joey glanced at Jim and Corey, as if asking if they had heard him ask the question that Ratchet hasn't seemed to hear. Mick wanted Joey to shut up. Of course Kai wasn't going to be okay. 

"You want me to what?"

Ratchet shit a irritated glare down at the guitarist. "Kai is in crippling levels of pain. Normally, I'd disconnect the relaying circuitry to the injuried area to alleviate pain. But Kai's door wings aren't an actual part of his body, they're BlueCore. They receive signals and send them through the BlueCore in his body, I can't shut anything off unless I remove his Cores."

Sid shot up, fists balling. "That would kill him! You can't do that!"

Ratchet rolled his eyes and refocused the glare on Sid, who leaned back instinctively. "I'm not. That's that issue slagger! If I can't disconnect anything, then I can't give Kai pain relief when I fix what I can with these."

Jim was the first one who connected the dots and his face drained of all color, Joey was next and then Corey. The rhythm guitarist silently got up, stepped past Ratchet to grab his jacket and stopped in front of Kai who had calmed somewhat and was quietly crying into Mick's shoulder.

"Sorry I can't be here right now, Kai. But I can't just sit here and watch you be in pain." A lightly placed hand on Kai's head and Jim walked out of the room and off the bus. Joey followed, then Craig. They promised to wait for the rest when they went to find the person who hurt Kai. Something that Mick appreciated. He wanted the shitbag to himself.

Corey, Sid, Clown, Paul and Chris were left. The realization that Kai would be in even worse pain sucking any want for conversation out of the bus. The bus had never been this quiet. Mick never wanted to hear Kai's laugh more than now. Anything to fill the crushing silence.

"Mick."

The large man met Ratchets eyes, his tone of voice making something in Mick want to curl up and hide. He couldn't think properly. All he wanted to do was sequester himself away and hold Kai, to wipe away his tears.

"What?"

Ratchet looked at him in pity, making Mick uncomfortable.  
"Kai may scream, he may cry and may beg. He might even attempt to hurt you, but you cannot let him go until I say so."

Mick instinctively balled his fists and eyed the blue substance coating Kai's back. Ratchet nodded understanding his question. For the first time in nearly two hours, Mick wrapped his arms around Kai. One under his doorwings, and one over. He took a deep breath and pressed down, locking his arms. The warm gush of BlueCore spilled against his arms, and Mick felt the skin crawl. He was covered in blood. Kai's blood.

Mick would have given anything to hug Kai like this before. But now that he could he would have given anything for this not to be the circumstances. 

"Reikai, I need you to listen to me. Take some deep breaths. I know it hurts but try to focus."

Kai's cries hiccuped and he shuddered under the effort to calm himself. Mick rubbed a thumb in silent support. It seemed to help, as Kai took a deeper breath and his watery eyes weakly flicked over to Ratchets voice.

Ratchet gauged Kai's face, watching him more or less gather himself. Tears were still steaming down his face and he was shaking, but those heart wrenching cries had stopped.

"H-hurts....I don't...know why." He gasped like every breath hurt.

Ratchet hummed under his breath, eyes dimming. He was going to castrate whoever did this to his sparkling. "First, who did this to you?"

The trembling got harder, and Kai's face twisted under the onslaught of his pain. "Motionless In White...bodyguard. How did he...know. My doorwings, how did he know?"

Kai shakily turned his head and looked at Corey, who was sitting ashen faced on the couch.  
"My d-doorwings, why did you tell them that? Why?" A hiccup and Kai started to cry harder. Corey and Clown looked stricken, the singer looking like he would break down.

"I-im sorry Kai! I-" Ratchet cut him off with a wave, face stony. 

"You can apologize after. Kai, who did this?"

Mick winced was Kai balled his hands in his shirt for stability, deeply gasping, voice thick with the effort to not sob. "S-sean something. Motionless, Rickys bodyguard I think. He's an Anti."

Clown froze at the mention of his name. And Mick almost felt sorry for the dude when the percussionist found him. Almost. Paul and Chris shifted at the knowledge that the stage hand was Anti-Autobot. The group was small and not gaining any ground, but the members were filled with pure hate. Some of it was justified

Chris got to his feet and sat next to Mick. He gently placed his hand gently on Kai's shoulder. His eyes were shimmering but his face was set in determination. "Kai, we're gonna make this right, okay? I'm going to find the other guys and we're gonna go talk to the MIW kids and we're gonna fix this, okay?" He got up and stumbled off the bus, a sob breaking through the closing of the doors.

Kai buried his face into Mick's neck and cried harder. "Make it stop, please...I can't...please Ratchet make it stop. It hurt, it hurts, please..."

Ratchet softly dug his fingers in Kai's hair, something that caused him to break immediately into muffled sobs. "Kai, I can't make the pain stop, there are no relays to block since your doorwings aren't an actual part of your body. I have to cauterize the remains and wait until until your body fades them."

Kai shook harder and that made Paul snap. He surged to his feet, "You can't do anything for him?! Look he's dying here and you can't do ANYTHING?"

Ratchet whirled around and buried a hand in Paul's shirt, causing him to stagger on his tiptoes. "Are you telling me how to take care of my patient who is also my fragging son?" Paul grabbed Ratchets wrist, trying to break the grip as the medic all but yelled into his face, "Do you think that I want to see him crying and writhing in pain because one of you fleshbags decided to hurt him at his literal only weak point?!"

Sid surged up, pushing bewteen the two men. "Chill out guys! Stop fighting!" Sid grabbed the back of Paul's shirt and pulled, which caused Ratchet to let go in lieu of ripping the bassists shirt. 

Corey placed a hand on Pauls shoulder and guided him back to where he was sitting between him and Clown. "Bro, we're all fucked right now, but just chill okay?"

Paul shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and looked away from the rest of them. Ratchet took a deep breath and his holoform flickered a few times before he turned back to Kai who had more or less quieted during the altercation."Kai...I'm sorry."

Kai, trembled harder for a moment, taking several deep breaths before nodding. 

"Are you ready?"

Mick was not. He wasn't prepared the sudden arch, the rapid brightening of Kai's eyes or how deep his nails sunk into his flesh. 

Mick was expecting a scream. He was expecting the sobs that racked Kais body to come ten-fold.

He was not prepared for Kai simply tremble in his arms, voice silenced from the waves of pain. He was not prepared for Kai to shake like a child, every muscle tensed to the point where Kai was stiff in Micks arms.

The silence was suffocating, only the faint crackling of the welder filling the space. Corey had his eyes locked to the floor, the haunted look in his eyes the same as the look in Shawns eyes. Sid was playing with a mini voltron figure that he had painted red and black, the blue painted eyes staring accusingly at the DJ. Paul slumped forward, head buried in his hands.

Mick was not prepared for Kai to suddenly push against his arms, eyes whirling blindly as he scrabbled at Micks arms. Kais voice was softer, higher, insisting in a broken voice that he 'would be good' and that he was 'sorry for being bad'. That he'd 'be better next time'.

Those words made Ratchet stop, stare at Kai for a moment before the medic shut off his welder and walked off the bus. There was a loud sound of a transformation and then screeching in Cybertronian. Sid went pale and hunched down in his seat, causing the men to look at him. Clown raised an eyebrow.

"What is he saying?" 

Sid winced at growing volume and buried his face into his knees. "He's cursing the guy to Unicron. Like actually calling Unicrons wrath upon the guys life." 

Mick's gut wrenched itself out of his back and seemed to slither into the floor. Kai had explained that the Cybertronian gods actually existed, and there were several recorded accounts of the Primes using the Matrix to perform miracles. Atheism didn't exist, because belief didn't exist. Unicron was the literal embodiment of chaos and shunned by the entire Autobot force. For one to pray to the actual devil...was terrifying.

The alien language cut off and there was another loud transformation sound that caused all of them to flinch. Ratchet holoform walked back on the bus, with the most hateful look Mick had ever seen, and he had the word tattooed on him.

Kai shook harder as he heard Ratchet approach. The medic crouched down to meet Kai's face. A soft expression filtered through the tense if his jaw. "I know you're not thinking correctly right now. I just want you to know that I'm trying my best to do this as fast as I can." Kai's eyes rolled sightlessly, faint clicking coming from him in response. Ratchet brushed his fingers into Kai's hair and whispered something in Cybertronix. "And when it's over and you're healed up we'll go offroading like you always ask, okay?"

Kai didn't say anything, but Mick felt the shaking subside a fraction. He took a deep breath, only for it to be brought back ten fold when Ratchet started back up. Mick realized with a pang that Kai hadnt stopped crying. His shirt was soaked with tears. His arms were coated in BlueCore.

After half an hour Kai passed out, a movement that had Mick thinking the worst things all at once. Sid voiced that maybe it was a good thing, if Kai was out he wouldn't feel it, right? 

Wrong. Kai woke up and froze in his arms, mouth open in a soundless scream negating any hope for him. Ratchet paused for a moment to scan Kai before going back to work.

"Mick. Let me go." Kai's voice was monotone, drawing a raised eyebrow from Ratchet.

Mick tensed his arms on reflex, glancing at Corey worriedly. "I can't, Ratchets not done yet."

Kai twisted in his arms with more strength than before, nearly breaking his grip. "Mick. I'm going to throw up-."

Ratchets eyes flashed wide before he pulled Kai away from him, a bucket subspaed in front of Kai's face a split second before he emptied his stomach contents. Kai sagged, the guitarist hefting him back up as a few hiccups shuddered his frame.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mick gets his revenge

Be glad Kai's not here."

"It's just-it's just a robot!"

"You think that fucking with one of our own is a good idea huh?"

"Just a robot? Dumber than you fucking look."

"Those things killed my sister! I'm not gonna just stand here and let them-"

"Eat shit."

Mick planted a fist in the dudes face, feeling something crack under his knuckles. When the man clamored to his feet, the stream of red from his nose made the guitarist grin.

Mick wasn't in Slipknot just for his guitar skills.

Paul and Chris had grabbed both of Seans arms, keeping his legs wide so he couldn't wrench to his feet. Sid was landing punch after punch, hissing something in Cybertronian.

It took another hit before the DJ stumbled off, sobs breaking from his throat. Jim merely slapped Sean, knowing the action would hurt his ego more. Shawn simply stared into Seans eyes while spinning his bat, eventually swinging but stopping right before it connected with Seans skull.

Sean shuddered and hiccuped like he was about to cry. Paul disgustedly muttered that 'he should at least take it like an adult.' which had Sean quieting down but tears streaming down his eyes. Corey had to be pulled off of Sean before he actually hurt the man. Mick honestly didn't see anything wrong with the black eye Sean had. 

Not even Death would equal what he did to Kai.

Craig had found his mask and silently stood in front of Sean, fists visibly trembling. Sean just stared upward, face pale. Joey planted one booted foot into Seans crotch and chuckled at the deep grunt. When Sean tried to struggle to his feet Joey neatly kicked him again. 

Mick didn't expect for Ratchet to come stomping up behind him, nor did he expect for the holoformed man to wrest Sean out of Paul and Chris' grip and straddle him on the floor.

"Are you Sean McPherson, brother of Sally McPherson?" The cold snarl had goosebumps rising on Micks arms, Corey and Shawn sharing a glance. Sean shuddered and attempted to crawl from under Ratchet, but ended having his head ground into the floor. "Answer it!"

Sean hiccuped again, "Ye-yes. She was my sister before you robots took her from me." His voice broke. Ratchet growled, a deep mechanical whirr that seemed to vibrate the air. Keeping Sean pinned, Ratchet held up one hand, palm facing the nearby wall. 

Joey gasped as a thin stream of light shot out from Ratchets palm, forming a shimmering screen against the concrete. A clip began to play. It was shaky at first, like the person filming had to get up off the ground. There was a scream and the video whirled around to focus down on a brown haired woman. She was sprinting from the crushed entrance of an office building. Sean cried out, freeing a hand to reach for the possibly last recording of his sister

"Help! Someone help me! There are robots holding us hostage!" There the camera flickered for a bit and when the video cleared the view had dropped several feet, nearly eye level to the woman. Mick was shocked to hear Kai's voice come from behind the camera.

"Lady, my name is Reikai. I am an Autobot and I'm here to save you and your colleagues." The woman tripped, sprawling but quickly scrambling to her feet. Kai was running to keep her out of sight.

But before Sally could reach Kai, a whir and bright flash of blue light caused Kai blink. When his eyes opened, a grey mech had transformed from what looked to be the wreckage of a car. Kai looked down right as the plasma round made contact with Sallys body. The human popped, sending steamy internals all over Kai. The clip stopped.

Mick looked over to see Joeys eyes filled with tears. Shawn had his eyes closed. Jim was rubbing Corey's back, the singer retching from the graphic video. Paul and Chris were silent, eyes locked on the floor. Sid was curled up on the floor, glaring at Sean.

Sean was sobbing, seeing the graphic death of his sister. Ratchet had no remorse. "The Decepticons had over 40 humans captive in the building and already planned on killing all of them when they were called from the position." Ratchets eyes dimmed, "Salley knew they would kill her, but she still sacrificed her life to alert an Autobot. That Autobot was Kai. You disgraced your sister's death and how you have to live with it."

Ratchets voice dropped. "It took him a long time to stop having night terrors."

Sean only cried harder, interspersing apologies with repeated calls of his sister's name.

Mick left when he saw the flashes of red and blue police lights. That wasn't his business anymore.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mick wallows, Clown confronts him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna get real vignette-y after this yall.

Mick only left Kai's hotel room for three reasons. Playing, Sleeping and Bus Nights. Where Kai was, Mick probably was too. Holding him, massaging him, even whispering to his limp form. Ratchet had explained that pain relievers wouldn't work on Kai, his only option was to drug Kai to the point of incoherency. Kai still trembled, his tears never stopped falling even asleep.

The tour was quieter. Fans held a minute of silence on the night Kai was attacked. Fan mail poured in. Twitter had a tag trending. News outlets were wondering if this was grounds for War. Optimus released a public statement. Sean was charged, court date pending. Mick didn't care about the news. He didn't care about the political shitstorm. He only cared about Kai. They all only cared about Kai. Lucky for them, there were only two more shows before they were off for a week. It was unspoken that Kai roomed with Mick.

It wasn't natural for Kai to be so still. Mick would frequently look over Kai's still frame, something twisting deep in him at the 'not-rightness' at how tiny the body in the bed looked. Kai was 5'9", but has a slim frame that he bulked with an over the top personality and a bigger hoodie.

The third night Mick slipped into the bed with Kai. His doorwings had grown an inch, but they were still stubbs. Gently placing Kai's limp body on his chest, Mick ignored the part of his heart that felt lighter.

***

It wasn't right seeing Kai laying so still. His face still held a pained expression even in medical stasis. Ratchet had cursed when Paul brought it up. "He's at a place not even I can reach. We just have to wait."

Mick tried to distance himself. Seeing Kai's small, slim frame curled up made him feel sick inside. Someone so bright, so loud, so energetic reduced to a shivering, weak, invalid was so wrong. The more Mick heard Kai cry, the more he felt like his chest would burst.

He tried to rationalize the heavy feeling in his heart. It wasn't good that he was spending his time so close to Kai. There were 8 other guys who could take care of him, he didn't have to act like a fucking hen. Besides, Mick told himself, Anti-Autobot supporters were all but being hunted down. Kai didn't need him around to protect him anymore. He probably didn't want a lot of people around in his weakened state.

Right?

Shawn cornered him in his dressing room as he was putting on stage makeup. The older man was in was in full gear, his bat twirling in his hand.

"What do you think your doing?"

Mick glanced up to meet Clowns eyes through the mask. His eyes were piercing, and staring at him. 

"What are you talkin' about."

Clown sighed and slowly shook his head, eyes tracing over the scuffed bat. He took the extra chair next to Mick and sat, leaning the bat across his lap. "Im talking about Reikai, Mickael," his head tilted to the side. "As in why are you avoiding him." 

Mick turned away, ignoring the churn in his stomach as he went back to his makeup. He rarely used his full name. "I'm not avoidin' him." He answered lamely. Clown tsked. 

"You sure?"

Mick fought against the urge to hit Clown. He was just making sure Kai had the space to heal. That wasn't a bad thing! His heat was pounding and his stomach was protesting. What was wrong with him? Mick idly pressed a hand to his chest, wondering what was wrong with the pounding organ. 

Clown was still staring, sitting very still. His silver mask seemed to glow in the mirror lights, throwing his eyes into shadow.

Mick shivered. "Yeah I'm sure."

Clown silently got up, pushed the chair in and left. Micks heart beat even faster. Why did those words leave such a bad taste in his mouth? He put his mask on, flexing his fingers. He was sure. More than he'd ever been. Ever.

Right?


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mick confesses, again?

Kai decided on taking a two week break and go to a couple of concerts on a Rave Tour. Slipknot didnt feel safe anymore, he told Mick. It wasn't even on purpose, he liked the people on the rave tour and decided to go while he was off, he had money for all his tickets and everything. But when he walked up to ticketers one of them recognized who he was and all hell broke loose. He was asked why he was there and when he responded that he was there to enjoy the show everyone lost their minds. Kai still wasn't sure what they were so shocked about but after all of the managers had begged him to ‘CoreForm’ for the artists. Kai didn't see why he couldn't as long as they knew that he was there to enjoy himself. He did buy tickets after all. He swore that he never danced that hard in his life. And CoreForm was a lot easier on the ego than CoreDance.

Kai still had all the thousands of email addresses and Instagram @s in his contacts. Heck he may even message a few. Make someone's day. Midway through the first week though, Mick texted him. Asking if he wanted to talk.

Kai did want to talk. To anyone. He had broken infront of the nine men like he'd never before. But no one had a close perspective to the situation.

Other than they guys, sure. But Kai would be damned if he held a serious conversation with fucking Shawn of all people. He'd tell him some cryptic shit like 'Let dead crows be’ or something.

So Kai said yes. And Mick suffered through three extremely long paragraphs of hysterical crying texts and a conversation that lasted well up to 4 o'clock in the morning. Kai told him several times to go to sleep but Mick stated that they didn't have a show. Mick was there for him in a state that Kai had hastily left behind when the tour started. Mick talked him down from two panic attacks and just listened. He listened to Kai's over-thinking mind spit out scenario after scenario about what could have happened and what he could have done. 

Mick never hung up ever. He never told Kai to be quiet, to hold or to calm down. He just listened. No matter how staticky Kai's voice grew or how harsh Kai cursed Sean in Cybertronix he stayed.

Kai thanked him after nearly 30 minutes of silence of catching his breath and he said simply, 'No Problem’. Kai then asked him how he was surviving with no one to wrangle Clown and Sid. Mick then revealed that with Kai gone, the venues had cancelled the shows. That left them with about three weeks of off time. Kai felt mortified until Mick reassured them that if venues didn't want to see Slipknot for Slipknot then they weren't worth it. Kai still felt slightly guilty, despite how clear headed he felt from the break. So Kai had fun with the ravers and Slipknot got a much appreciated break.

So Mick spent most time in his hotel room playing video games, playing guitar and talking with Kai his entire time on the rave tour. Mick had a wonderfully dry sense of humor that went well with Kai's theatrics. They spent lots of time laughing and talking on various dumb things until Kai came back. Kai learned that Mick was an avid scifi-horror fan and Kai joked that he probably wanted to have sex with some alien android slime.

Mick had replied, 'Not too far off on that one.’

Still snickering, Kai had asked him what he meant.

Mick was silent, his silence strange for the just jovial conversation. Kai was patiently waiting for Mick's response before it rooted him in his spot.

“I-I'd be with you Kai.”

Kai gaped, stuck in an awkward frozen pose. He instinctively ducked down by the bed where he was in his hotel room. It took him about 6 seconds before he could whisper a hoarse 'what?’.

Mick told Kai he had a crush. Had one since about a month in when the Slipknot tour started. He had backed away knowing his feelings but was caught red handed when it wasn't as subtle as he had thought and Kai confronted him.

Mick said that he felt that Kai wouldnt be interested and backed off to deal with his with his feelings. But he didn't expected for what happened to happen. He didn't expect to fall so hard or so fast.

So Mick said they with the way things are looking, Kai might not come back. And if that happened, he wanted Kai to know how he felt.

Kai was filled with the most unsettling sensation of his spark warming, followed by his entire body. He tried to ignore the part of his spark that was shrieking for joy. Any slight thoughts about leaving the tour were obliterated and Kai took a deep breath as Mick spoke.

“I love you Kai. I've loved you for almost a year and I've wanted nothing more this entire time than to tell you that.”

Mick hung up, voice thick.

When Kai got back to Slipknot two days later, every band member other than Corey and Mick was eyeing the living fuck out of him. Jim talked to him with a steely focus, as if trying to impress every word into Kai's brain with his gaze. Joey was caught staring at him on several occasions after Kai put his stuff back in his bunk and Sid was cranking out the Cybertronian alphabet on his DJ rig with a near insane focus. None of them spoke of anything other to each other than strictly show information. Kai was so full of the anxiety that he swore that his EM field would feel like acid if anyone came near him.

They were waiting for something. Kai didn't know the hell what, but Clown seemed like he knew and was orchestrating the whole thing. Kai just knew that if anymore Slipknot fuckery happened, the percussionist would find himself in a very, very, high place holding a conversation with a very, very, pissed off Autobot.

Kai had tried to find Mick after two hours of cryptic conversation with Chris and was shocked when the man had turned up nowhere. Even after Kai told the Stage Crew to let the man know he was looking for him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THEY KISS. OFFICIALLY.

Kai sighed again as the bus bumped through a moderate sized pot hole. It was surprising that all of that had only happened hours before. But time runs differently when you can't fucking sleep. Rocking back and forth against the window he looked out at the empty flat lands and sparse houses. Luckily out here, light pollution was next to nil and the stars were magnificent. The rumble of the engine was muted and the slight swaying was almost hypnotic if you ignored the bigger potholes the bus bumped through.

Perfect conditions for a goodnight’s sleep.

Not.

“I didn't know you were up.”

Kai surged around, his hands half-forming to his blasters before his recognition systems locked on Micks face. The taller man had his hands up in the 'I Surrender’ pose before Kai retracted the weapon with a shaky inhale of shock and restraint.

“Jesus Mick! Don't do that!”

Kai huffed and threw himself back against the window like he was before Mick had scared the literal grooves off his screws. Damn giant moved too fucking quietly.

“Sorry Laze. Didn't mean to.”

Kai roughly shrugged and hiked his hoodie up around his neck. He suddenly felt cold in the room with Mick and wanted to go back to the warmly numb observational mood he was in when he was just alone.

Mick shuffled over to the mini fridge and grabbed a can of Coke. Guess he was tired of trying to sleep also. Kai hoped that Mick wouldn't see the perfect opportunity to talk to him but it was all for nothing as Mick sat in front of him on the window seat.

“So.”

Kai prickled and knew he had a slight blue halo in his eyes. What the fuck did Mick mean, 'so’?! 

“What do you want?”

Kai hissed it out a bit more venomous than he intended but Mick leaned back from him. The older man sat back and gazed at him. Kai was very uncomfortable in the scrutiny and instantly went on the defensive.

“Mick go to bed please. I don't have time for this.”

The guitarist sighed and placed his can of Coke on the nearby table and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. His back muscles rippled under his thin white t--shirt and something in Kai became very aware of how big Mick was compared to him.

Fuck. Fuck.

“Kai. Calm down. Your irises blow any wider and they'll be black.”

Kai immediately took a deep breath and shifted his gaze away from Mick and back on the dreary landscape.

“Talk to me.”

“About what? You hung up on me. Avoided me all day. I had to deal with whatever drugs the rest of these idiots were on all motherfucking day.”

If Mick wanted to play games, he could take the first move. 

“Alright I did. I bitched out for a second. I'm sorry, I lost my nerve.”

Fuck. Kai was hoping Mick would talk more. Now it was his move. Dammit. He didn't know how to do this! Goddamn, how was he supposed to tell this big lug he felt the fucking same?!

“Any other apologies before you go to bed?” Kai rolled his eyes, the slight reflection from the shining irises sparking in the window. Mick snorted and took a sip of his soda

“No, not really. I wanted to talk to you.”

The Autobot hissed through his teeth, canines slightly lengthening before shrinking back up.

“Well, this is a very enlightening conversation.”

Mick set his can down and settled a heavy gaze at Kai. The young man was pressed as far as he could go into the wall behind him. Despite his warning, Kai's pupils were blown and the thin ring around them was dangerously bright. 

Mick wanted nothing more than to look into those eyes forever. No matter what form the soul was in. Kai's eyes were hypnotic, they expressed his emotions better than any CoreForm could. Opening his mouth, Mick prepared to encroach the very loaded subject.

Something in Kai didn't want to use empty words. It didn't want to play games. It wanted Mick. And it was tired of Kai doing things that kept Mick away from him.

So Kai took a deep breath, closed his eyes to center himself and opened them to take a long, long look at Mick.

Mick was upon him in a second, his lips pressing against Kai's in a rough and claiming kiss. Kai's hands went to Mick's chest immediately, running his fingers over his chest and up around his neck. Mick grabbed Kai's hips and hoisted him up against the wall so abruptly, Kai half-wondered if bruises would form.

Mick's kisses were hot and all-consuming. The need to have Micks weight pressed against his body filled Kai with a hot flash of heat and he froze. Mick noticed and looked up to see Kai staring at him with the most hungry look. His irises were a bright thin ring of light blue. The yawning masses of his pupil seemed larger than what the human eye was capable and something deep in Mick's brainstem stood at attention.

Here was a predator offering himself for consumption. Mick better tread carefully. With great care, Mick lifted his leg between Kai's and pressed his chest to keep him against the wall and to have his hands free. Kai shuddered as Mick's large hands encircled his waist and arched as his fingers wiggled against the skin there.

In one swift move, Kai reached down and pulled off his shirt, shuddering as his hot body met the chill air of the bus. Mick made a deep sound in his throat and one pair of lips reached across the Autobots’ collarbone. Kai danced his fingers down Mick's spine, thankful for long arms for once and grinned as the guitarist nipped lightly at his neck. Mick ran his hands over Kai's ribs and delights in how he arches into Mick's hands.

The predator was giving himself as clay.

Kai wanted to be molded.

For nearly an hour Kai and Mick kissed and mapped each other's bodies, never going too far below the belt line but intimate in a more personal way.

Kai fell asleep in Mick's arms, both of their shirts off and their faces and bodies a little more rested.

When they woke up five hours later with Chris and Shawn snickering and taking pictures he swore that he'd kill everyone in the bus, driver included, if they ever were published..

At least they stopped staring at him, though Kai would have kissed Megatron to find out how Clown knew the kiss was going to happen.


	21. Vignette #1 Reweld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deeper look into postdoorwing trauma. I had he setting at a secret safehouse with Kai, Mick and Ratchet but do whatever.

Mick hated when Ratchet had had to reweld Kai's doorwings. Given that the base frame coding was pretty vauge (Ratchets words, not his. Mick took one look at the tiny lines of Cybertronian text and immediately left the room) the re-generating BlueCore would sometimes go awry, generating in places that would hinder it later. Ratchet would go back, cut, then cauterize it off.

It was different from when Kai first had his doorwings cauterized on the band bus. Kai never cried, or thrashed. He didn't beg for Ratchet to stop or even tried to move away.

Mick had to watch as his boyfriend was reduced to a weak, trembling form, flinching only to silently cry harder when Ratchet had to continue. He would release whimpers and whines but no words, burying his hands in the comforter as waves of agony racked his body long after Ratchet tersely left the room.

"...Kai?"

Kai had tiredly turned his head to the right, faintly shimmering eyes staring soullessly at the wall to the left of Mick.

"Kai? You alright?" No response and Mick took a careful step forward. Kai didn't even seem like he was there, his eyes completely empty, cast into deeper shadow by the pale blue glow his doorwings gave off.

"Pain....she loves me..."

Mick barely caught the breathed words, stopping in his tracks.

"She wants me to be less scared...so I can feel more of my pain..."

Mick hoped Kai would forgive him later and swiftly left the room. Something about his empty eyes made Kai seem more... robotic than usual


	22. Vignette #2: Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai's point of view of recovery after the doorwing attack.

A whirr  
A click  
A hum that sank so deep it rattled your soul.  
And the triplechanger opened his eyes.

Mick was the first person he saw, sitting by the side of the bed. The guitarists iced eyes staring back in the same empty observation. The man looked paused, as if Kai had caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to.

A movement and his gaze shifted, Corey was curled up in the recliner, red hair sticking up comically as he twisted to the side in a yawn.

The slight giggle at Coreys hair is what drew Coreys lazer like attention and jolted Mick into action. The singers jaw was dropped, making the spiky red hair and pressure marks from his face being against the recliner more comical. The giggles grew louder and Kai had to fight to keep his straight.

Mick slowly reached forward and took Kai's smaller, brown hand, eyes scattering over Kai's blanketed form. "Are you alright?" He pleaded, "Are you in any pain?"

Kai's brow twitched? Pain? Why would be in pain if he just woke up? A sudden intake of oxygen and Kai was stuck in a yawn. The new movement finally forced his processor to online and his eyes widened at the sudden surge of damage reports flooding his HUD.

Completed and filed damage reports.

Scanning through hundreds-no thousands of damage reports and Kai bolted upright, yanking his hand out of Micks embrace. Twisting his arm back, he maniacally dug his nails-since when did he have nails?!-into the flesh of his shoulder blades. His sensor net burned with the faint discomfort and his memory core supplied the last bit of his boot-up sequence.

_Horrible, mind erasing agony._

___"Hold him down!"_ _ _

____It didn't have an end. It writhed and pulsed, drawing him deeper into it's thick embrace._ _ __

____"-Just hold him...please just let me hold him!"_ _ _ _

____God please make it stop. Please make it stop. Pleasepleasegodplease_ _ _ _

____His doorwings! They were gone! Gone! They ripped off his doorwings! What did he do wrong?_ _ _ _

____God would not answer to the forsaken._ _ _ _

____"I'm sorry...I have to cut off the remainder."_ _ _ _

____Agony boiling in a locked body, he fought against the steel holding him down. He didn't open his eyes, he didn't want to see the person who savored eliciting his screams. If he couldn't see them, maybe they would cease to exist._ _ _ _

____"Kai...I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."_ _ _ _

____Confusion battered his mind as the forest fire in his shoulder bladed settled to a smoldering ember. He gasped, body drawing in air to seemingly drown the fire licking at his spine. An apology? His eyes opened, meeting ice blue._ _ _ _

____The fire roared back to life again. Kai knew nothing else._ _ _ _

____Kai shrieked, long and hard, spine arching as the sensory data from his memories washed through his sensor-net. Pain flashed first and then fear struck him hard, wrapping around his spark. His spark writhed and shriveled under the sudden onslaught of emotion and screamed down the nearby creator bond._ _ _ _

____~CREATOR!~_ _ _ _

____Mick reached for Kai, Corey trying soothe Kai with soft words. His spark shut down all input from the processors and Kai clawed himself sideways off the bed, the two alarmed shouts only serving to send in farther into terror._ _ _ _

____~CREATOR!! HELP!~_ _ _ _

____The door slammed open with a crashing bang and Kai threw himself backwards, pressing his freshly healed back against the unforgiving dresser drawers. Another surge of agony that cut off his air and Kai shuddered once and fell limp._ _ _ _


	23. Vignette #3: Alternate Doorwing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alternate version of how Kai gets injured.

It had happened so fast

Kai had ran ahead, doorwings cheekily fluttering as he fired one last snarky comment to Corey before taking off, the laughs from everyone else following in his wake, Mick watching him go. The earlier contest with Sid to see if he could replicate anime fight moves had him bursting with energy and bouncing off the hotel walls, literally.

But a sudden movement caught Micks eye and he looked up just as what seemed to be a homless man staggered out of the alleyway. His clothes were threadbare, hair was wild and his shoes looked ten steps away from falling apart. Mick couldnt even tell what brand they were. Kai tried to sidestep the man, but stopped in his tracks as the homeless man darted in front of him. Low words came from Kai and Mick turned back to his previous converstaion. Kai could handle a damn homeless man, he was an Autobot for chrissakes! But as whatever conversation Kai and the stange man were having, the more his doorwings flittered.

Mick loved it when Kai CoreFormed enough for his doorwings to form. Since they formed from his BlueCore and not his actual body, they glowed a soft blue and the sensation if Kai let you touched them was like felt fabric wrapped around steel. They were facinating and almost irresistible to not play with since when Kai got excited they would wiggle. Sid had gotten himself whacked in the face several times when touching them without Kai's permission since they were very sensitive, a fact that Mick never forgot during their alone times.

Raised voices drew the band members attention. Kai had shifted into a slightly defensive stance and backed up, as the strange man tried to grab Kai. He was wildly waving his arms, violently jabbing at the Autobot with pointed fingers. Mick clenched his fists, trying to go back to guitar talk wth Jim. Kai could take care of himself, Kai could take care of himself.

"Who the hell does that guy think he is?" Joey had his steely grey eyes locked on the man and brushed his hair out of his face. "Yo! Fuck face! Leave him alone!" 

The man whipped his head around and a low chill of apprehension washed through the group of nine men. The dude looked unstable, pale eyes wide and unblinking. He opened his mouth and Mick had to hide a snicker at Pauls gag. His teeth were dull yellow, cavities visible even from the distance.

"These robot things! They gonna, they gon kill all ah us!" His voice was raspy and deep, words slurred.

A flash of blue and Kai came up, face set in stone. "Bro, the Autobots are not going to kill you. We want to help y-"

"All the same! Death machines by the aliens! The government made death machines to control us and we gotta kill em!" He whirled around and threw a sloppy punch that Kai easily caught, but dropped in shock. Corey gasped and then pushed past Mick. No one dared to actually hit Kai! 

Kais eyes flickered over to Corey and shook his head. "Corey wait! Just chill out man!" He stepped around the homeless man, trying to intercept Corey. The singer would only make the obviously agitated man worse.

Kai brushed past the feral man, not seeing how his eyes lit up as they spotted the glowing doorwings. How his arm raised, grimy fingers uncurling, wrapping around the very tip of the right wing. Kai froze, eyes widening, mouth opening in surprise, subconsciously arching into the touch.

And then he screamed as the man ripped off the part in his hand, the BlueCore liquifying and spilling to the ground. He screamed again, a high piercing shriek as the homeless man clawed at his back, stopping only when Corey plowed into him, brutally slamming him into the ground.

Mick didn't know how he ended up at Kai's side, he didn't know when Paul handed over his shirt to attempt to stop the gushing gashes across Kai's once beautiful wings. Or when Jim and Joey joined in beating the shit out the homeless man with Corey and Sid. The BlueCore disintegrated further when they applied pressure, causing Paul to recoil in shock when Kai arched his back until it looked like his spine would snap.

"Stop! Stop touch-AAAAAAAH!"

The scream snapped Mick out of his tunnel vison and he staggered away just enough to lean against the nearby wall and bring up his lunch. Looking over to the man he saw Jim and Sid dragging a still fighting Corey away. Joey was still landing punches, a wild look in his eyes. It took three seconds to run over and haul the drummer off the now unconscious man, but Joey kept struggling.

"No! He fucking hurt Kai! No!" Mick shook the smaller man, causing Joey to look up at him in startled shock.

Mick looked at the still form, and then forced his eyes back to Kai who was quietly keening in Pauls hold. Craig and Shawn had lightly pressed their shirts to keep the


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim cant take it anymore.  
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICK!  
> If i dont upload, jim stans killed me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Use of the f slur.

Jim slammed Kai by his shoulders against the wall. "You think I like seeing your faggot shit in my face all the damn time?" He hissed while he dug his fingers in Kai's shoulders, causing the younger man to wince and instinctively grab Jim's wrists. "It makes me fucking sick!"

Kai tightened his grip around Jim's wrists till Jim cried out and tried to pull out of the iron grasp. Jim could feel his hands falling asleep, the bloodflow being stopped by the pressure. " I will beat the shit out of you."

Jim froze at the icy tone and felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. Kai's eyes were a pale blue, tiny tendrils of Core dancing over his skin. 

"Are you fucking serious?!"

"I am."

Jim yanked at the hold, forgetting that while Kai didn't use his Autobot strength, didn't mean he couldn't. The guitarist was about to open his mouth before he found himself flying across the bus living room and crashing on the couch with a loud thump.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"

Kai whipped his head to where Corey's voice rang out and called back in a light-hearted tone. "Nothing Corey, I tripped!" He awkwardly laughed, cursing under his breath. There was a not so quiet 'goddamn' called out from Mick.

Kai turned back to Jim who had gathered himself to his feet. His glare was deadly. "I'm sick of all this gay shit in my fucking face! First it was Corey which wasn't a fucking surpri-"

Jim never saw the punch that snapped his head back, nor the movement that Kai used to pin him against the wall by his shirt. "You listen here you fucking scumbag," Jim involuntarily shuddered at the toneless voice. "You will leave everyone's names out of your worthless mouth. One more word to me about this and I will not hesitate to light this whole bus up with the facts that you are a piece of homphobe shit."

"Too late."

Kai snapped his head around to see Mick's towering form in the doorway, his fists balled. 

"Let him go, Kai." Kai hissed, his anger clicking down to the lower levels of his processor. Like fuck he would!

Mick took careful steps forward and lightly placed a hand on Kai's shoulder. Kai dropped Jim in a heap at the contact and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Get him a fucking icepack for his nose."

Kai deftly stepped out from under Mick's hand and left the room, blue sparkles trailing in his wake.

It was now just Mick and Jim. The latter was holding his nose shut to stop the light trickle of blood, eyes locked on the larger male. "The fuck you want?"

Mick clenched and unclenched his fists. "I never expected you to be intolerant, since you ride Corey's dick like it's going out of style," Jim started, but was stopped in his tracks by a low growl from Mick. "But I swear to Kai's god, you ever say shit to him again about any of his relationships I will not hold him back."

Jim pressed his back against the wall, meeting Mick's gaze before looking away. "Fine. I don't have to like it."

Mick turned to face the door. "I don't give a fuck."


	25. Vignette #5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lil left iver sonething months old in drafts.

Some days, it took Reikai everything in him to not stuff his face with all the food in sight. Catering did their jobs well and made sure that food was always bountiful for nine rockstars and all the crew it took to carry them along. But even the amount of food Mick ate when he tucked in wouldn't even make a dent in the yawning chasm in his gut. Energon was gross and Ratchet told him that the only way to maintain his energy levels was to eat. Ratchet would rain wrenches like hellfire if he knew, but Kai tempered his guilt that he also didnt need to eat the tour out of a stage and throne with the amount of food it would take to power him properly. 

So Kai only took what he felt was a normal amount. It was slightly less than what Paul normally ate, or three plates per meal. He joked and rubbed his belly, grinning at the warm hearted teasing that always ended a meal. He shoved away from the table, and waved his way out of the room. The walks were painful, his systems wondering why he had barely fed them and why he had left freely available food behind? Every step was a cinder block attached to his foot, and his tank repeatedly pinged him, sending a dull ache through his processors with the amount of notifs.

A few weeks into tour and Kai was better. It was easy to ignore the measly amount of food that he shoveled into his mouth if he just compared what he thought he wanted with what he already ate. If he was human he'd be stuffed. He'd be satisfied. He was fine. His head was fuzzy around the edges sometimes, but that was nothing a few energy drinks couldnt fix. Thank god caffeine still worked on him, or he was sure that he'd knock out right after shows.

Two months and Shawn had walked him over to slightly less visible corner, pressing his hands into his collarbones."You alright?" The older man had asked, eyes tracing over the grey and blue hoodie Kai wore. "You look...different?"

Kai had glanced down out of habit, pinging his systems for a status report. Everything pinged back 75% efficiency or greater. He was fine. He glanced back up, a small smile spreading his lips. "I'm good, why?" He was a bit uncomfortable with the intense expression on Shawns face. Like he was trying to peel his skin back and take a look at his internals. It made his spark twitch.

Clown had met his gaze with a heavy weight in his own. The man dropped his hands and stepped back, shaking his head. "Nothin' Laze. Just checking in." He walked away, leaving Reikai feeling a bit dazed and plenty confused.

Kai commed Ratchet a few days later, Clowns silent gazes when he thought Kai wasn't looking made his struts crawl. He climbed to the roof of the venue and laid down with his legs hanging off the edge, boots kicking the concrete. The sky was interesting today, fluffy clouds drifting by. His thrusters whirred where they hid in his legs. He missed flying.

":What exactly is he doing that makes you uncomfortable?:"

Kai shrugged despite knowing his creator couldn't see him. "It's weird. He asked me if I was okay because I looked different or something. Now he's staring at me every second I'm in his line of sight." 

There was a spurt of static and a clang that made Kai flinch. He heard muffled laughter, and the sound of pedes running away. 

":Frag you Sideswipe! I know where you recharge!:"

Kai just managed to hold his snickers in when his creator stopped roaring at the ruby frontliner. "What's wrong Ratch? Can't handle a young mech?" The innuendo was heavy and Kai didn't hold back his giggles when the old mech growled into the comm.

":I know where you sleep too. Never forget. As for your human friend, have you changed anything about your appearance? You tend to change your hair and eyes frequently.:"

Kai frowned, recalling the memory file of the short conversation. Clown was looking at his body, not face. That couldn't be it. "Nothing major, but I've been messing with the brightness of my optics on stage, thats about it."

Ratchet hummed, the tone making his BlueCore spin before settling down. ":I truly don't know. Sorry, Little One.:"

Kai smiled at the name, his spark warming. "Oh well, whats up with Base? I miss y'all."

Ratchet's voice was a familiar comfort as he began ranting about the rise in pranks since Kai left. Kai could already visualize the med bot, organizing already organized tools in a pristine medbay, First Aid down the bay finishing up a few reports from the weeks petty injuries, hiding his smile at Ratchets temper.

Kai said his goodbyes, and cut the comm. Talking to his Dad always feel better. Nothing like hearing about the dumb fisticuffs the Autobots got into to lighten his mood. He got up, and carefully made his way off the roof.

Speaking of, a playful scuffle with Sid had ended when a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea sent him planting into the floor. Kai recovered a second before he hit the floor and he played it off by curling into a roll and popping up behind Sid and giving a big grin. The DJ didn't seem to notice anything wrong but Kai cringed at Clowns peircing gaze for the rest of the show.

Another week and a half and Kai was losing sleep from the constant system pings for fuel. Everytime he'd succesfully doze off, a new ping would rouse him. He started getting irritable at himself. It wasn't like he was starving himself! He was eating, but he had to make allowances that other people had to eat. Eating half the buffet just so the goddamn notifications would go away was not the battle plan. He ate. Wasn't that enough? Clown would not stop staring.

And to make things worse, Paul had bumped his shoulder as they were waiting for curtain drop. It was impossible to discern his facial expression with the mask but it was easy to hear the worry in the bassists voice. "You alright, Sparky? Looking a little thin nowadays." 

Kai had stared at Paul, shock stalling his systems for a moment. The bass player shifted and Kai blinked away the feeling and cracked a smile to ease Paul. "Really? Huh, I hadn't noticed." He pulled himself away from the worried eyes and hurried to the nearest bathroom. There was a full length mirror across one wall and more importantly, completely empty. Locking the door behind him, Kai yanked his hoodie off, taking the shirt with it. Taking a centering breath, Kai met his reflection.

There was...nothing different. The twin incisions under his pecs glimmered as they always did, his stomach was a bit pudgy as it always was. His face was clear of any blemishes and his peircings gleamed like they always did. A flash of deep irritation wrapped around his spark and he balled his fists into the ball of fabric in his hands. What the fuck was he doing? He couldn't lose weight, right? Hell, he didn't even know what his weight was before tour, why should it matter now? He looked fine.

Kai shoved his hoodie back on, ignoring the way his eyes glowed. It was time for show, not for stupid self conscious feelings. Paul and Shawn were just acting weird. There was nothing wrong with him other than him constantly feeling like he wanted to eat everything in sight. He was a robot, Kai derogativley chanted to himself. He didn't do shit like lose weight.

The show went off without a hitch, through it was hard to keep his rising irritation from bleeding into the power output. He got a few glances from Joey during Killpop and Mick edged away from the nearby Core spiral. Kai was just glad that it was over. He was tired and hungry and he wanted them all to stop looking at him.

Then there was the party. Nearly 100 people in one room. The food was hauled in by the crateful and something in Kai went feral. He could eat normally tonight. No one would notice that amount of food. Shit they might be grateful that Kai took care of it. He would eat. He would finally eat.

Then Shawn reminded them that it was Black Tie and the relief shattered into a billion peices. Great, Kai griped as he got adjusted his holofrom imaging system to a tux. A bunch of people acting like the food was simply a prop too beneath them to even look at while they walked around in dumb peices of over priced fabric and bragged about whatever the fuck it was rich people talked about. It was hell, as he politely chatted with a few prominent faces in the music industry. He had his own fair share of shmoozers but they were quickly re directed. After the appropriate amount of time, Kai grabbed a drink and planted himself along the back wall where many others were hiding. His attention kept dragging back to the tables laden with all sorts of delicious fare. Honey glazed ham with cucumbers, mini beef and chicken sliders, pepperoni pizzas small enough that Kai could fit two in his hands. Bacon wrapped pigs-in-blanket that had his mouth watering. The longer he stared the food, the more his systems clicked down into something he couldn't quite describe. Something deeper, something primal. He was hungry, and food was right there.

20 minutes till the end, Kai saw servers coming to take the food. Working his way across the hall, Kai tapped one man in the back. He jumped and then paled when he recognized who Kai was.

"Hey, were is this all going?" Kai didn't want to see all of it thrown away. His systems screamed at him. There is food right there! They seemed to say. Eat it eat it EAT IT! Energy!! Energy!! REFUEL!

The man swallowed and regained his composure. "We're-we're allowed to eat it, but we're only gonna eat about half of it. Its a waste I know." He dropped his gaze, ashamed at the wasteful gluttonly of his fellow man. He didn't see the full scale shiver as Kai forced himself to keep still. Half of it. Kai technically would be able to eat half of it. Energy. It was fucking food. 

"I'll eat it. The left over half." The man narrowed his eyes and then dropped the look as he again recalled who and what Kai was. "Are you sure? I don't think you could eat all of that."

Kai didn't think he could either, but his hunger clawed at him. He hadnt fed himself properly in months. Nothing would stop him from doing so now. The last fifteen minutes were their own personal brand of hell. His systems were churning, yawing. He felt like his spark, Cores and internals had folded themselves into a black hole. The guy, named Matt, promised to keep the food for Kai. Doubt still lay in his eyes but Kai was beyond caring. A haze had settled over his processors. Food. Energy. Food. Energy. The only thing that mattered was food. The second the party was offically over, Kai all but sprinted to the door that led to the the catering area. Heads snapped up as he dissolved his suit in a shower of pixels and gasps rose as he hurried to where Matt was talking to a chef.

Matt turned just as Kai jogged up, a small smile gracing his lips. "We've already gotten what we want. The Chef wants to know if you want whats left in the kitche-"

Kai shoved past him. He was in the way. Massive trays of spicy chicken sliders, savory party wings and moist chocolate cake went down his throat. He got lost in the daze and repetition of eating, his systems nearly overloading with joy as he finally, finally gave fuel. The way they were meant to. Twenty minutes, thirty, an hour went by and Kai placed a tray down and reached for the next one. To only be met with the end of the table. He snapped his head over and was met with the aftermath of his binge. Discarded bones, stained toothpicks and sauce covered trays lay back. Horror flooded him as he saw the clean bones of two whole hams. Movement to his left and Kai snapped over to see the Shawn, Joey and Paul slowly walking over to him, bleeding concern, worry, and even a bit of disgust into the air.

Paul was the first to speak, eyes darting over the carnage. "Laze, why didn't you tell me you were that hungry?" 

Guilt flashed through him. He had eaten food that would have well fed over 20 people. And he didn't even remember most of it. How much money had he wasted? Clown was glaring at him and even Joey had his eyebrows raised at the amount food that was destroyed. Kai took a step back and the tightness of his tank finally registered to him. The amount of food was so great that it had moved into his subspace. There was food in his subspace. Kai spun around and dove to the nearest empty trashcan, food rising in his throat. Retch after retch wracked his frame and a warm strong hand rubbed his back. Someone was furiously whispering, but it was hard for him to discern as he emptied his body of the food.

After a horrible length of time, Kai slid to his knees, a wave of vertigo making standing a feat. Someone kneeled beside him, brushing his braids out of his face. "-elp?"

Kai forcefully reset his systems, but the heavy shock and nausea still plagued him. It was another moment before he registered that he was crying. Kai buried his face into the sleeves of his hoodie, angrily wiping the tears away. Why was he crying? What the fuck was going on?

"Reikai? Are you there?"

Kai took a deep breath and looked up to see Joey next to him. "Y-yeah. I'm...I'm sorry." He didn't know what he was sorry for but- guilt and disgust wracked his body. He had eaten over 20 peoples worth of food and promptly threw it back up. Shame laid heavy in his spark. Civilians didn't have the budget the military had. How much money did he just throw away??

Joey patted his shoulder and tugged on his arm. "Let's go to the hotel. We got catering to leave but they are persistent." Kai slowly turned around, finally realizing other than his friends the room was empty. His eyes landed on the tables and shame welled up in him. Shawn stepped in front of his gaze, holding out his hand to pull Kai to his feet. Kai kept his head down as they walked past the white clad servers. He didn't need to see their disgust, he could smell it in the air.

The ride to the hotel was silent, something Kai was grateful for. His head pounded and his tank was sending sharp stabs through him. His systems were a scrambled mess, a mix of euphoria from the food tempered by heavy confused shock about the sudden exit of it all. His filters had stalled when he threw up and still hadn't shut down, sending a nauseating tightness through his body. If Kai still had anything in him, he'd be still throwing up. Finally getting to their floor, Kai tried to slip away into his room but Joey had a firm grip on his wrist. His processors flagged the motion. When had Joey been able to wrap his hands around his wrist?

The drummer had sat Kai down on the bed in Pauls room, Kai kept his head down. He was probably about to get the biggest dressing down of his life. He stared at his boots trying to ignore the palette of pain his body was. He would he explain this to Ratchet? He was hungry yeah. But did that really warrant what he had just done? What he had wasted?

"Kai look at me please." Kai debated keeping his head down. He didn't want to see the questions he probably didnt have the answers to. It took an effort but he raised his head and met Joey gaze. "What's wrong? You lost a lot of weight and," he trailed off, looking down at Kai's hoodie. Kai looked down and cringed at the food stains that were littered across it. Had he really wiped his hands off on his hoodie?

Kai shivered, error reports floodibg his HUD. "I don't know. I've always-always been hungry. I kinda...I've managed."

Clown huffed and stepped forward, pulling Joey back who shot a warning look at him. "Bullshit. You act like a starving man at meals? And then pig out an hour ago? Starving yourself isn't going to garner whatever it is you want."

Kai snapped back up, he wasn't-! "I'm not starving myself!" He hissed, irritation easing away some of the fog. "I'm hungry all the fucking time! It's not my fault that I can't shut my stomach up!"

Joey nudged Clown who took a deep breath and dropped into a crouch, still meeting Kai's eyes. "Hungry? You eat nearly the same amount as Paul, there's no way in Hell you are still hungry."

The irritation reared its head and Kai had to breathe through the sudden wash of Core. "Sorry if I require more sustenance than nine fucking tiny plates of food! But I'd rather not have money spent on me! I'm fine!"

Clown narrowed his eyes. "Fine meaning passing out on stage? Fine meaning looking more like Joey than Corey? Binging on half an entire partys worth of food?" He rolled his eyes.

Kai snarled, guilt shifting into something heavier. His head was spinning, were the right words even coming out? "Why do you care? You gonna buy it for me? I don't think I even have the ability to lose weight. The fuck you see under the hoodie anyway." Kai shoved himself to his feet, he was tired of this. He was trying to do something good and now they all came for his neck. He took a step and suddenly lost all connection to his limbs. The last thing he registered was the sensation of falling.

***

Refuel?  
Refuel?  
Energy levels at 12%  
Refuel?  
Refuel?

Kai winced as his bootup system gleamed brightly under his eyelids. Fuck, he was so tired. His body sent a slew of data reports across his HUD and he swiped them away. Sleep...he just wanted more..sleep.

"Someone is finally awake."

Ratchets gruff voice had Kai's eyes snapping open and scrambling to sit up. He was so shocked that he didn't even register when Ratchet pressed a hand to his chest and pushed him back into...the bed? When had he gotten into bed? "Wha-Ratchet? What are you doing here?" His head whirled, trying to pull up the memory files but everything was slow to respond.

The holoform of the medbot sat back and rubbed one hand across his face. "I got a signal ping from your systems that you had emergency shutdown. You didn't boot back up after an hour, so I groundbridged out." Ratchet dropped his hand and fixed Kai with an unreadble look. "Your friends are very...interesting."

Kai rolled his eyes and tried to get back up and was once again stopped by Ratchets hand. "Since its just you and me, I'll ask you now. Why aren't you eating properly?"

Kai froze, every line, every strut, every cog, wire and sensor stalled. I- I am!" He stammered. "I am eating, I eat everyday." His tank pinged him again.

Refuel?  
Energy levels at 11%

Ratchet hummed, "Your friends are very observant. The one named Shawn in particular."

Panic flooded Kai, unknown in it's origin. He was doing something good! He was making sure that food costs didn't go up! He knew how much he ate and that was an outrageous amount for civilians to pay just for him! Why was this such a bad thing? He was fine!

Energy levels 10%   
Shut down imminent.  
Refuel?

"So that's the issue. Kai I understand that you don't like money spent on you but when the cost is for something that keeps you alive it's necessary."

Something in Kai surged and suddenly the medical block he didn't even know was in place rose. His memory filed updated themselves and Kai had to fight back tears. Ratchet sighed and leaned down to hug his son. 

"I understand you want to seem as human as possibke but youre hurting yourself. I have half the mind to beat you with a wrench."


	26. Vignette #?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More cute shit i found deep in my files.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to @dysphorie

It always amused the guys when Kai would say he 'activated' his Cores. That implied that he actually stopped using them.

Now he COULD. Kai could choose not to CoreForm at any time and he did. But the problem was that NOT CoreForming was a bit more difficult after doing so continually. Sid loved it when a simple high five made blue sparkles dance down his arm. Jim found it funny when Kai would laugh, little ripples would slide down his spine. Vman once had Kai wrap Core around the neck of his bass that pulsed with the riff he played. He thought he'd cry when it faded away.

Shawn tried to enforce a 'No Alien Shit' rule on the bus, something that always ended in laughs because Kai followed the rule to a point. No Alien Shit....While Shawn Is Looking. Corey always gave it away because he laughed too loud.

That morning Mick stepped into the bus living room to find Kai quietly dancing around to music blaring though earbuds. Mick took a moment moment to watch, Kai's movements graceful no matter what form he was in. His eyes were closed and Mick creepily snuck up on Autobot Warrior, hoping to whatever was out there that he didn't get his arm ripped off or something. 

The second Mick grabbed Kai up in a bear hug, a startling wave of static washed through his body, before two glowing cuffs wrapped around his wrists and wrenched them back, Kai dropping out of his hold into a roll and popping back up into a crouch facing him.

Mick stared at Kai in shock.   
Kai stared at Mick in shock.

Kai's battlemask was up, visor a thin line before widening in shock. The mask clicked away, revealing Kai's startled face. "Mick you scared the literal fuck out of me! How did you do that?"

Mick attempted to move his wrists, but the cuffs didn't move, his arms are stuck in solid blue balls that floated in mid air. "Uh..can I get my hands first?"

"Sorry." Kai's face was bright red, eyes averted from Micks. The spheres dissapated, leaving a faint tingling sensation on his skin. Kai rose out of crouch and grabbed one of Mick's hands, flipping it over to inspect it. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

Mick tensed, not used to people being comfortable in his presence, let alone touch him. Blood started to run to his face. "N-no. Sorry about scaring you, but it was funny."

Kai dropped his left hand and grabbed the other, seemingly facinated by the large size. Mick didn't know what Kai was looking for since he hadn't hurt him, but didn't have it in him to actually pull his hand away. 

Kai seemed mesmerized, tugging on his fingers, brushing his own against Mick's knuckles, massaging the wrists and ending up pressing his own warm palm against Mick's. "Your hands are so big." His voice was lowered to a whisper, staring up at Mick .

Something in Mick's chest stuttered at the innocent look, his own ice blue eyes locked into Kai's neon blue ones. "Yeah..."

Kai slightly lowered his own hand, eyes dropping to his chest. Mick froze as Kai shifted, pressing his palm over the guitarist's heart. If he was sure he was ever about to have a heart attack, it was then. The organ felt like it would pound itself out of his ribcage and land in between them with a squelch. 

"Y-you're really warm, Mick."

Kai didn't know what came over him, the thick arms that wrapped around his body startling him briefly into nearly attacking. But he had never actually touched someone with his Cores before. 

Yes, he had tore through several squadrons of Decepticons, crushed sparkchambers and ashed more bots that he could remember, but he had never actually TOUCHED someone before. And never a human.

Mick was warm, no a furnace. Yes he wanted to make sure Mick was alright, but something deep within him wanted an excuse to touch him, to feel him. Kai wasn't fully at the controls when he pressed his hand to Mick's chest, the vibrations from his powerful heart flooding up his arm and wrapping around his spark. 

He shuddered at the sensation, knowing Mick was watching him as closely as Kai was watching Mick. The steady th-thud pounded through his meta, caressing his senses, flooding his mind. He wanted more.

Mick was lost. Kai had pressed his hand to his heart, the slight warmth from the small appendage feeling like it was branding the hyper sensitive skin. Kai shuddered suddenly and Mick was dumbstruck as a blue tendril reached through his hoodie straight for Mick's chest. It thickened, now the width of Kai's own wrist before splitting into five smaller tendrils.

A hand.

There was a blue glowing hand reaching for him. Mick didn't move as the hand raked over his chest, lighting up the nerves there, bleeding warmth through his entire body. If Mick's face wasn't bright red before, it was now. Kai eyes followed the hand: over his chest. Up to his shoulder, massaging the thick muscle there. Down his arm, sending goosebumps over the skin, down to his hand.

Mick was not prepared for the energy hand to be soft, not to feel just like Kai's hand. He was also no prepared for it to grab his and then press it to Kai's own chest.

"Wh-"

And the he noticed.

Th-th-thud.  
Th-th-thud.  
Th-th-thud.

Kai's...sparkbeat was thrice fold.

A bolt of heavy energy shot through him and Mick wasn't sure of it was simply his hormones reacting or the Blue Core hand slightly pulsing in time with the alien heartbeat.


End file.
